Milk Link signs up Cheshire’s farmers

Jun 18 2009 by Naomi Dunning, Chester Chronicle

A MILK company has saved many of Cheshire’s farmers from disaster after it confirmed this week it has secured the creamery that was run by Dairy Farmers of Britain (DFB).

The DFB cooperative went bust last week plunging hundreds of farmers into turmoil and leaving them wondering who they would sell their milk to.

Milk Link creates a variety of dairy products, and the DFB council met bosses to secure a fair price.

It was hoped the company would take over DFB’s Llandyrnog cheese creamery and successfully recruit the farmers who had been left out in the cold due to DFB’s demise.

Milk Link bosses announced they had successfully acquired the Llandyrnog Cheese Creamery on Friday.

Neil Kennedy, Milk Link’s chief executive said: “In the last couple of days our milk procurement team have signed up over 200 farmers and we are confident that we will have secured the milk required for the creamery by the end of this week.”

The demise of DFB comes as the Royal Bank of Scotland is urging farmers to get proper help managing financial risks.

RBS spokesman Mark Lester said: “The sources of risk are well known.

“Yields can be affected by weather, pests or diseases. Price movements can be triggered by sudden changes in supply or demand, or by exchange rates.

“These can have knock-on effects on input costs.”

“In a world where costs and prices tend to be volatile, where the cushion of price support is being reduced and where forecasters predict more extreme weather events, risk management is becoming an even more important part of business planning.”