Collaboration delivers

Free Range Dairy seeks to secure a fair reward for milk producers who commit to grazing their cows for at least half of the year. People tell us they think farmers deserve more and that they want a clear assurance that cows are given the freedom to graze. So, when you choose free range milk…

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Food Waist

I’ve been to a couple of interesting talks on food recently. Food Talks at Impact Hub Kings Cross and the Future of our Food at City University. Both talked about sustainable food systems and whether our current business model and food production systems are fit for the future. The answer from leading academics and thinkers on…

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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…

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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…

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Remaining meeting dates

We are still running a number of Free Range Dairy meetings for farmers around the country to explain our objectives, outline standards for free range milk production and provide details of our strategy for getting free range milk to market. There is growing interest in the opportunity to distinguish and brand milk from cows that…

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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…

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Join our community

We have now launched formal membership of the Free Range Dairy Network for farmers and we are also giving others who want to be able to choose milk from cows in fields the chance to support us. In order to bring about real change in the British Dairy industry we need to bring farmers and…

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Regional Farmer Meetings

We have been fortunate enough to secure a small amount of funding to run a series of regional meetings for farmers interested in winning recognition for free range milk production, over the next few months. Perhaps now more than ever before, there is an urgent need to find a way to install value in the…

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On the right track

When I was getting a few jobs done on the farm early yesterday morning, before heading off for our Free Range Dairy meeting, I was heartened to hear BBC Radio 4 discussing opportunities to engage consumers and secure a fair price for milk, which reinforced my belief that we are on the right track. You…

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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…

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Time for change

A week ago I attended a local meeting arranged by Farmers for Action (FFA) at which David Handley highlighted the need for the British dairy industry to stop promoting increased milk output without first securing markets for that extra milk. An estimated 200 dairy farmers, concerned about the recent downward spiral in milk prices, were…

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