Wyke Farms extends partnership with UK organic milk cooperative

From: FoodBev

Dairy company Wyke Farms has deepened its relationship with The Organic Milk Suppliers Cooperative (OMSCo), the UK’s largest producer of organic milk, in an effort to grow sales of organic cheese.

The two parties plan to more than treble their existing ranges of organic cheese, which totalled more than 1,000 tonnes last year.

The new arrangement will see Wyke Farms sourcing all the milk requirements for organic cheese production from OMSCo, while OMSCo will increase its range of specialist organic cheese made by Wyke Farms for export markets and also take a share in the ownership of bulk cheddar stocks for a proportion of domestic and export sales.

The additional milk will allow Wyke Farms and OMSCo to capitalise on the growth of organic market on a global scale. The goal had previously been unattainable due to European milk quotas, which were lifted in 2015.

Wyke Farms managing director Rich Clothier said: “This arrangement means that Wyke and OMSCo have a fit-for-the-future vehicle to supply the best quality organic cheddars to the world market.

“Our combined scale and efficiency makes us the logical supply partners for organic cheddar. It gives us the capacity and milk supply necessary to expand organic cheese production rapidly. It also gives us access to OMSCo’s different milk types to produce organic cheddar with different attributes and with access to different markets.

“It will complement our existing business which currently produces over 14,000 tonnes of cheddar annually, entirely from our own source of renewable energy.”

OMSCo managing director Richard Hampton added: “OMSCo has for a long time supplied raw milk to Wyke for organic cheese making, and Wyke Farms have also produced organic cheese, skimmed milk and butter on our behalf using our specialist milk types for markets such as the US, where we have a unique accreditation and access.

“This new chapter presents an exciting opportunity to drive our joint business together, supporting the development of cheese stocks as well as allowing us to further develop our supplies of UK organic whey for use in our rapidly expanding specialist ingredients business. This is an example of OMSCo working more closely with our markets and end users of organic products across the globe.”

Wyke Farms has been producing cheddar cheese for over 150 years and has grown to become one of the largest family-owned cheese makers in Britain, selling over 14,000 tonnes annually to 160 countries around the world.

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