On our supplying dairy farms

Sourcing our milk

A sustainable supply of high quality milk is important to Dairy Crest. We currently purchase 2.1 billion litres of raw milk a year. Around 70% of this milk comes direct from over 1,300 dairy farmers located throughout England and Wales. Our offer to our farmer suppliers is based on working in partnership to develop a long-term secure relationship and achieve value for both parties. A dedicated team of head office and field-based staff is responsible for managing and developing our relationship with our farmer suppliers. This relationship encompasses all aspects of milk supply—including milk purchasing agreements, farm assurance, milk quality, and, in some cases, the delivery of specific customer requirements.

The team works closely with Dairy Crest Direct (DCD), the elected farmer representative organisation, to improve communication and understanding of the issues and opportunities that affect this partnership.

There is a regular dialogue between the DCD Board and the Dairy Crest Executive. DCD also talks to our retail customers to promote greater awareness of key industry issues and the impact on farms.

Innovative partnerships

We have further developed our retailer milk pools for Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose in the year. The introduction of the Morrisons regional milk initiative in 2008 now means that all our liquid milk suppliers are part of an added-value scheme.

As milk supply in the UK continues to fall, we expect to see more product, factory and customer-specific dairy supply chains established.

Supporting projects
at farm level

Customer partnerships have also supported innovative projects at farm level—focusing on supporting consumer choice, the environment, animal husbandry and improving supply chain efficiency. Consumers are increasingly aware of where their food comes from and how it is produced. This means that animal health and welfare and the environment remain in the spotlight and have to be a priority for dairy farmers. We have continued to support our suppliers through the unique, independent White Gold Service, raising awareness of how to adopt best practice efficiently on farms.

With our increasing focus on efficiency, we conducted a fundamental review of our haulage operation for milk from farms. As a result, we decided, over time, to end shared milk-collection agreements with other processors. This will also increase opportunities for marketing initiatives for our suppliers’ milk.

We are proud of our dairy farmer suppliers
and their achievements

The heart of our business

Our farmers are at the heart of our business and key to our success. The milk procurement team has held meetings and events throughout the year to provide opportunities for discussion and debate, and to seek suppliers’ views and ideas of how we can work better together. This has been a very positive process, and generated valuable input for developing future plans. We are proud of our dairy farmer suppliers and their achievements, and will continue to build and develop our relationships to secure a sustainable milk supply for our business.

In a challenging market, we continue to work with every link in our supply chain so that we can to continue to deliver value to all our stakeholders.