A DERFA survey back in 2013 found that the average age of farmers in the UK was 59, at that time. No doubt that age has crept up a bit since then. But dairy farming is changing and a new generation of young farmers, are bringing new ideas, mixing tradition with new technology and connecting…
At this year’s Welsh Dairy Show, on October 29th, Free Range Dairy Network (FRD) will be launching a new collaboration with Welsh dairy farmer Nick Roch, to win badly needed recognition and value for ‘free range milk’, produced on dairy farms in Wales. According to data from the Food Standards Agency (FSA), 50 dairy farmers…
Lunch is a 2 day trade show for café, coffee shop and the food to go sector. This year there was a common theme running it through it I’ve never seen before and that was sustainability. From how they source their ingredients, to food waste and energy usage, even to the packaging, everyone was talking…
This was a question someone posed in a recent article in Forbes magazine. The writer was fascinated by a video of a cow using a mechanic brush, grooming herself and having a good scratch at the same time. ‘Today’s consumers and especially many young consumers have a desire to know more about the products they…
It’s two years ago today Asda became the first major retailer to stock free range dairy milk under the Pasture Promise logo. Here’s Rob, one of the farmers you see on the label telling us how Asda is helping to make a difference for farmers and cows. It’s now been two years since Asda took…
I went to a Food Talk at Impact Hub Kings Cross recently, where they debated if too few businesses own our food production. Carina from Feed Back Global who launched their campaign against fake farms this autumn, was one of the speakers. She raised some interesting points about how treating food as a commodity shapes…
What a great time we had at Countryfile Live last weekend. It might have rained a bit and the high winds at one point sent the gazebo flying across the field but nothing could dampen our enthusiasm. We were just really excited to be there and have the chance to find out what people really…
Throughout the month of June, the Sustainable Restaurant Association is running it’s Celebrate Local Producers Campaign, encouraging members to source more fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy from British suppliers. There’s lots of reasons why buying the cheapest produce can make financial sense when running a restaurant but your business doesn’t operate in isolation. Add the…
I went to the first Balance Festival held in London on Friday. A three day festival dedicated to health and fitness shows how big the industry has grown over the years and is still a growing in the UK. I attended the Health and Wellness Summit Friday morning, which included a series of talks about…
I came away from our first Free Range Dairy Network conference this year feeling very positive. Not only did we have about 70 can-do people attend the conference but we also had some fantastic news from Yeshna Mistry from Sustainability Restaurant Association. Their new sustainability rating includes points for members taking Pasture Promise free range…
The two main questions people ask when searching on the internet for us is ‘What is Free Range Dairy?’ and ‘Where can I buy it?’ Firstly, ‘What is Free Range Dairy?’ Free Range Dairy is a defined farming system founded on the production of milk from traditional dairy farms, where cows are free to graze…