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(UK) Industry Comment from Richard Clothier, third generation family member & Managing Director, Wyke Farms

Following On From The Fall Of ‘The Dairy Farmers of Britain’, One Of the UK’s Biggest Co-Ops, Richard Clothier Issues a Call for Collaboration….

Desperate times call for desperate measures – that’s what we’re told anyway. With the current state of our challenging economy and dwindling milk supplies, the question over who controls the supply chain is becoming more and more prominent.

For retailers, ‘exercising caution’ in the current economic downturn inherently means they must resist the temptation to be aggressive with suppliers. Although this may feel like a natural course of action under growing pressure, retailers must keep in mind that the farmer supply-base is extremely fragile.

As we all know, the supply of dairy commodities sourced from within the UK remains very low in comparison to previous years (the UK output of milk is said to be the lowest since 1971), and putting additional pressure on cheese, butter and liquid-milk prices could push yet even more dairy farmers out of the industry. In effect, this means that if the market were to experience another increase in world demand for milk products, we would not have a milk supply base to support our UK demand.

In the end, retailers cater to consumers’ needs, which we naturally assume means the cheaper the better. However, the consumer feedback we’ve received at Wyke Farms clearly shows that whilst people may have less money to spend, they wish to spend it more carefully and their key drivers for purchase remain the same.

Even though shopping budgets are becoming tighter, consumers have not discarded their affection for provenance, health, green issues, and local products. To this end, retailers must resist using primary producers to finance outdated ‘pile it high – sell it cheap’ forms of vending, ensuring that quality products still command their share of the fixture. In return, even greater responsibility lies with Brand Managers, Manufacturers and Farmers to sell these values harder than ever to shoppers. Cutting marketing budgets in periods of tough trading is like raising the white flag to the oncoming charge of cheap supermarket own-label products.

Ultimately, it’s up to us as an industry to work together to get through this time. Maybe it’s time we change the old saying to ‘Desperate times call for better collaboration’. It’s more apparent than ever that the only way for our industry to get through this economic crisis unscathed is by doing a better job of working together, rather than passing the pain down the line, which will inevitably end up at the door of the primary producer – the poor old farmer.

Notes to Editor
Wyke Farms Ltd is a family run company based in the heart of the Somerset cheddar making region. The art of traditional cheese making will never be lost on the Somerset farm where the Clothier family have been making cheddar to Ivy Clothier’s same original secret recipe since 1902.

Today, Wyke Farms is the largest independent cheesemaker and milk processor in the UK producing over 12,000 tonnes of cheddar per year to the same award winning 100-year-old recipe.

Recent brand data confirms Wyke Farms as the fastest growing brand within the Cheddar category, with growth at 95% over the past 12 months and shows a significant 118% growth in brand sales. The Wyke Farms brand is the 4th largest in the category and the only independent company in the top 10 cheese brands .

Wyke remains a truly traditional family business. Ivy’s grandsons Richard and Tom now run the cheese making operations with their father John, whilst her other two Grandsons David and Roger run the family dairy farming operations. The four grandchildren share Ivy’s passion for cheese making where flavour, texture and taste are paramount. They believe that this attention to detail is the reason that their cheese has won more awards at national cheese shows than any other.

Tags: Richard Clothier, UK