John Letts is a farmer, archaeobotanist, and plant breeder who has been studying and growing heritage grains for over 30 years. John grew up working on farms in Southern Ontario, Canada, and obtained his first degree in Environmental Studies and Botany at Trent University in Canada. After moving to the UK, he obtained an MSc in Environmental Archaeology at UCL, followed by research at Oxford University and the University of Reading.
John’s research into Medieval farming, thatching, heritage grain, and sustainable grain production began in the early 1990’s, after discovering hundreds of examples of almost perfectly preserved late Medieval thatch in ancient buildings in Southern England. This led him on a journey culminating in the development of a revolutionary, clover-based, ‘restorative’ cropping system that Fielden Whisky now uses to grow its diverse populations of heritage grain. As Fielden Whisky’s Managing Director of Sustainable Farming, John works closely with the brand’s community of growers to ensure Fielden has a steady supply of top-quality, sustainably grown, heritage grain to make its unique whisky. John also established Heritage Harvest Ltd., the first company to market heritage grain flour in the UK.