Cheese producing members of the British Cheese Board – an organisation funded by its members and the MDC - scooped a record number of awards at this year’s Royal Bath and West Show (30th May – 2nd June 2006).

One of the highlights was BCB member Cricketer Farm, based near Bridgwater in Somerset, who was awarded The Mathews and Skalies Perpetual Challenge Cup as the overall champion cheese for their block Cheddar.

This award was one of more than 93 awards secured by BCB members at the show in a year that saw a record number of entries. And it outstripped the 75 awards won by BCB members at the Bath and West Show in 2006.
A further 11 special awards were secured by BCB members including Denhay Farms, Alvis Brothers and Wensleydale Dairy Products.

“BCB members had a very high profile at the show this year,” says Board secretary Nigel White. “The BCB stand gave out samples of members’ cheese to visitors so they had a chance to try the different cheeses. Many visitors then went to individual members’ stands to buy some of the cheeses.

“The overall success at the Bath and West demonstrates the benefit of BCB’s work in representing its members by promoting cheese and educating people in cheese through timely and relevant campaigns.” BCB has 38 members who collectively represented around half of all the hard and soft cheese made in Britain.

“We have seen the consumption of British cheese increase by 2% to 3% in each of the past four years and the work of BCB has contributed to this success. MDC funding, which matches that given by members, has meant that the messages can be far-reaching and highly prominent,” adds Mr White.


The Milk Development Council (MDC) is a public body which was set up in 1994 (after the disbanding of the milk boards) to pick up essential services for dairy farmers that would not otherwise be provided. These services include the genetic evaluation of dairy breeding stock, research and development into better ways of producing milk, and the stimulation and development of the market for milk.

The MDC is funded by a statutory levy on all milk sold off-farm, at the rate of 0.06p per litre. This provides an annual income of around £7m.

The MDC’s current focus is on improving the profitability of dairy farming by focusing on three specific areas:

• Innovation and consumer education to stimulate demand and create more value in the dairy ‘category’
• Better supply chain relationships that ensure farmers as well as processors and retailers can enjoy a sustainable share of the profits
• Competitive milk production to help farmers realise better margins in the short term and increase their ability to compete in European markets in the long term.

The MDC co-funds the industry’s nutritional and issues management resource – The Dairy Council – with the processors’ trade body Dairy UK.

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