05/09/06
Three Cumbrian dairy farmers have formed their own processing
company to add value to milk produced in the county.
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The Cumberland Dairy
is processing 7,500 litres a month producing 750kg of
cheese, with the immediate goal being set at a tonne a
month.
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Their quest was to achieve better milk prices by
adding value and the four different types of quality cheese
they are already marketing are adding between 75p and £1.20p
per litre over the cost of production.
Chris Johnston, of Abbey Farm, Skirwith, Penrith, Gary Simpson,
of Knock Cross Farm, Long Marton, Appleby and Kevin Beaty,
of Hilltop Farm, Ivegill, Carlisle, are as diverse a group
of Cumbrian dairy farmers as could be found.
They formed The Cumberland Dairy in 2004 after a series of
catalyst meetings in the county organised under the umbrella
of the Rural Futures project whose aims are to assist the
farming community in Cumbria to respond to the need for change,
support farmers to help them change and to foster increased
collaboration amongst farmers.
Backed by £50,000 of research and development by Distinctly
Cumbria and Leader+ with private contributions of £4,000
each from the members themselves, four different types of
cheeses have been developed through Coleg Menai's Llangefni
food technology centre.
Production began last July and currently The Cumberland Dairy
is processing 7,500 litres a month producing 750kg of cheese
with the immediate goal being set at a tonne a month.
Sales are already through a number of retail outlets across
Cumbria as well as through hotels and restaurants which are
presently accounting for 85 per cent of sales. The majority
of the sales are wholesale and internet sales may be a future
consideration.
“The initial meetings came about during the process
of recovery from foot and mouth and the fact that Cumbria
along with Devon is the largest milk producing county in the
UK yet all its milk is transported out of the county to add
value to it,” said Chris Johnston, who acts as the business’s
production manager.
“The bottom line was to find a better milk price by
going down the added value route. After the initial meetings
only four of us remained committed but this gave us a better
ability to make decisions on how we were to progress.
“We decided to go initially into cheese production
because it uses a lot of milk – 10,000 litres are required
to produce a tonne of cheese.”
While the success of the business is such that it is on target
to break even during the first year, despite budgeting for
a loss, the amount of milk processed is too small to allow
the four producers to supply their own milk as contracts with
dairy companies will not allow a proportion of a herd’s
production to be marketed separately.
So milk which is guaranteed from Cumbrian producers is sourced
through Milk Link. With a lack of large scale milk processing
in the county, the cheese is made by one of the best
cheese makers in the North West , before returning to cold
storage at Knock in the Eden Valley for maturation.
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Chris Johnston (behind
) and Gary
Simpson
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“At the end of the day we’re farmers and we needed
someone who had the expertise. Butlers helped us to put the
finishing touches to our recipes and they are top quality
cheese producers,” said Mr Johnston.
“There was no point in us investing in capital plant
so we found a processor who could make a high quality cheese
consistently and we have plenty of capacity to meet our orders
as they grow.”
Market research revealed that consumers wanted a soft cheese
and a blue cheese with the aim of targeting the premium end
of the market that people would be prepared to pay for. Two
other hard cheeses were added to the range.
The cheeses are Blengdale Blue, a soft blue-veined cheese;
Keldthwaite Gold, a golden brie made by hand from Channel
Island milk; Cobble Tasty, a traditional, slightly hard Lancashire
type cheese, matured for up to 12 months; and Roegill Red,
a traditional Red Leicester type matured for up to 10 months.
The two traditional hard cheeses have added the equivalent
of 75p per litre to the purchased milk value, the blue cheese
has added £1 while the brie has added £1.20 a
litre.
The market research has so far proved correct in its prediction
of the most popular cheeses and these have already earned
industry accolades.
The Keldthwaite Gold cheese won a gold medal, the highest
award, at the British Cheese Festival in Cheltenham last October
in its first months of production And the Blengdale Blue was
given a silver medal.
Both the hard cheeses have a shelf life of 70 days. The soft
and blue cheeses are matured for four to five weeks and have
a four week shelf life
All the cheeses are hand made and hand turned. They all use
pasteurised milk and are suitable for vegetarians – and
the recipes are top secret!
“Our remit was to brand and process Cumbrian milk and
we’re looking to go into other products once we grow
our market share of the products we have got now. These could
be luxury yoghurt and possibly milk,” said Gary Simpson,
who with his wife Kate handles the cheese distribution from
their farm.
“We have three million visitors to Cumbria every year
and we felt that we as milk producers should get something
back.
“We initially launched the cheese to the hotel and
restaurant sector because Cumbria has a high turnover of tourists
and when people are on holiday they always want to try something
local.
“Since then we have targeted the specialist delicatessen
retailers and now we’re approaching a few supermarkets.
We have picked up more and more sales within the county. We
are finding the cheese sells itself.”
Chris Johnston added: “In the future we would want
to use our own milk alongside that of other Cumbrian producers.
We ultimately want to grow the brand as big as we can and
utilise as much Cumbrian milk as possible to add value to
it.
“People are talking about food moving hundreds of miles.
We believe it’s up to farmers to help themselves rather
than expect someone else to sort out their problems for them.
“Against the current producer milk price, there is
a big opportunity to market Cumbrian dairy produce. There’s
no one else doing this sort of thing.”
Gary Simpson said: “We have found that trying to divide
our attention between farming and the business has not been
easy. We can understand why farmers have not got closer to
the market place as they are constantly being urged to do.”
© Copyright 2006 Jennifer
MacKenzie All Rights
Reserved.
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