Milk powder plant mooted for region

The project is moving forward despite NFU scepticism and a Yorkshire Post straw poll of dairy farmers found several saying they would be willing to invest.

However, FFA leader David Handley, a beef and dairy farmer in Monmouthshire, said there was no immediate need. Three big investors were interested in kick-starting the project, although he hoped it would become a farmer-owned enterprise.

Mr Handley announced the project with the comment: “It is time UK dairy farmers stopped the blame culture and took control of their own destiny.”

Grocer magazine gathered comments from industry experts including the NFU’s chief dairy adviser, Hayley Campbell-Gibbons. She poured cold water on the idea and Mr Handley reacted angrily, saying the FFA would pull out of its agreement with the NFU to work together on the milk prices problem.

NFU dairy board chairman Mansel Raymond responded last weekend by saying: “The NFU would support any move which would improve the functioning of the milk market in this country. But bitter experience tells us that major initiatives need to be done on the back of a carefully scoped and rigorous business case.

“David Handley’s plans were not discussed with us and Hayley’s comments should be seen as posing a number of important questions that need to be addressed, rather than an outright rejection.”

Talking to the Yorkshire Post this week, Mr Handley said: “Why should we have discussed it with the NFU? This is something we have pondered for a long time and talked about to people around the world. The next step is to look at sites and we are talking about somewhere with good links with Liverpool, Hull and Grimsby.”

The plan is based on the fact that milk powder, which can be easily shipped, is now worth more than most farmers are getting for the fresh liquid. A few years ago, cheap powder was undercutting milk.

But demand for dairy products has grown and suppliers have fallen away. UK farmers have been asking why their buyers do not export more powder to mop up the liquid surpluses which are driving down farm gate prices.

The answer, according to Mr Handley, is lack of processing capacity at the only existing powdering plant, Westbury Dairies, in Wiltshire.