Meadow Foods steps up farmer recruitment

Dairy ingredients group Meadow Foods is calling for North West dairy farmers to review their supply contracts in the wake of increasing instability in the market and lower prices being offered by some of the major buying groups.

The call comes on the back of record sales growth for Meadow, which supplies diary ingredients to many of the UK’s major food manufacturers including Unilever and Thorntons.

Meadow increased turnover by 12% to £123m for the 6-months ending 30 September 2008, thanks to strong demand for its products and increased efficiency in its manufacturing operations.

This week saw Dairy Farmers of Britain, a major buyer of milk from Cumbrian producers, announce that it was cutting almost 700 jobs, closing two of its factories and cutting its milk price by 2ppl – almost 4p below the national average, a blow for many dairy farmers in the region.

Meadow Foods managing director Paul Deakin said: “Volatility in the milk markets is driving many food manufacturers to secure their supply of quality milk. We’re well placed to capitalise on this by providing guaranteed supplies for manufacturers while offering farmers a leading price and a stable buyer for their milk. Over the last six months, we have increased our milk field by 60m litres to 400m annually and are looking for at least another 100m litres.”

Meadow is holding a series of meetings for producers interested in moving their supply agreements.

Over 400 farmers across Cumbria, the North West and Wales supply milk to Meadow Foods, which has two well-capitalised factories in Chester and Holme-Upon-Spalding Moor in Yorkshire that make products including chocolate crumb, butter, AMF and sweetened condensed milk.

Meadow Foods is responsible for 350 jobs and was recently ranked as one of the UK’s top 250 mid-market private companies for the third year running by The Sunday Times. The company was also named Large Business of the Year at the Cheshire Business Awards 2008.