Doing what it says on the label

Retailers have spent a lot of time and money building their reputation for quality and value, to win trust and confidence from their customers. However, there have been one or two hiccups along the way. The horsemeat scandal in 2013 was enormously damaging to the integrity of the supply chain, with everyone wondering where it…

Reduced farmer membership fees

Delivering lasting change in the fortunes of British dairy farmers is quite an undertaking, against the backdrop of increasing market volatility. That’s why we are really grateful for all the support and encouragement we have received from farmers. Free Range Dairy is all about creating an opportunity – instead of sitting back and waiting for…

Turning milk into water

Last week I took part in a debate about the value of milk compared to bottled water and, in my research, I learned some interesting things about the UK bottled water market and the way in which it is promoted and marketed. There are some interesting comparisons between the volume and value of both the…

Community Spirit

How much more can we achieve by working together? Free Range Dairy Network has been set up as a Community Interest Company (CIC) to create just that – a community. Farmers often find themselves isolated and unheard, living and working as they do in remote rural areas with no one to speak for them. In…

Promar herd margins

Figures produced by James Dunn from Promar Consultancy show that headline rises in dairy herd margins are largely down to increasing milk prices over the last 12 months. In an article in Dairy Farmer magazine, Mr Dunn showed that whilst average milk yield per cow rose from 7,698 litres to 8,006 (+ 308 litres) on…

Liz Earle Wellbeing

  Interest in how the way in which dairy farmers manage their herds influences the quality of our milk continues to grow. Through her new website Liz Earle is doing a lot of work to promote healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle and Liz recognises the contribution that milk and meat from grazing herds can…

The flavour of the countryside

‘The White Stuff’. That’s what one promotional campaign once called it. In recent years farmers supplying large volumes of milk for the liquid milk market have been said to be on ‘White Water Contracts’ – so called because of the low fat requirements. Is that how you regard your milk? As white water or the…

Where next for Free Range Dairy?

At last week’s BBC Food & Farming Awards, food writer and radio presenter Shelia Dillon said something that I think encapsulates what Free Range Dairy is all about. She said “Our finalists represent something special – living proof that good food, tradition and taste are all worth fighting for and sharing knowledge about”. I know…

Spring 2014 Newsletter

Last week the latest Free Range Dairy newsletter was circulated to around 13,000 milk producers inside British Dairying magazine. Now, it’s available here on the website for everyone to read. I hope you will see that we have lots to do in 2014 and some exciting opportunities to explore. So, if you haven’t done already,…

Time to put your hand up

Figures released by DairyCo yesterday revealed that the number of dairy farmers in England & Wales has fallen again, down to 10,488, a loss of 200 producers over the last twelve months. Last week permission was granted for a 1,000 cow dairy to be erected at Leighton, near Welshpool in Powys, despite concerns about the…

Food price inflation

Chief Executive of Tesco, Philip Clarke, indicated in an interview in The Observer that food price inflation is inevitable. “Over the long run I think food prices and the proportion of income spent on food may well be going up,” he said. “Because of growing demand it is going to change. It is the basic…