Dairy industry in the United Kingdom explained

The dairy industry in the United Kingdom is the industry of dairy farming that takes place in the UK.

Production

In Europe, UK milk production is third after France & Germany and is around the tenth highest in the world. There are around 12,000 dairy farms in the UK.^[1]

Around 14 billion litres of milk are commercially produced in the UK each year.

Britain eats around 2000 tonnes of cheese a day.

Production sites

Buckinghamshire

• Arla Aylesbury, produces 10% of the UK's milk, and the world's largest milk production site

Cornwall

• Davidstow Creamery, Britain's largest cheese factory, producing Cathedral City cheddar cheese

Delivery

Only 3% of milk in the UK is delivered to the door. There was an 80% drop in deliveries when supermarkets began to sell their own milk en-masse. The largest commercial deliverer of milk in the UK has around 500,000 customers; there has been a recent upswing in demand for door deliveries.

Regulation

Production was regulated by the Milk Marketing Board until 1994; its processing division is now Dairy Crest. AHDB Dairy is a central resource for the UK dairy industry.

Environmental impact

The dairy industry is a large source of waterway pollution in the UK. It is linked to half of all farm pollution, largely from the waste produced by cows.^[2] This pollution leads to fish kills and general harm to river ecosystems.^[3]

See also

• Dairy

Further reading

• Bailey, N. Z. Alison. "Trends in dairy farming and milk production: the cases of the United Kingdom and New Zealand." Achieving sustainable production of milk (Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, 2017) pp. 301-324.
• Crossley, Eric Lomax. The United Kingdom Dairy Industry (1959).
• March, M. D., et al. "Current trends in British dairy management regimens." Journal of dairy science 97.12 (2014): 7985-7994. online
• Taylor, David. "The English dairy industry, 1860-1930." Economic History Review 29.4 (1976): 585-601. online

External links

• NFU
• RSPCA

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dairy | AHDB. ahdb.org.uk.
2. News: 2022-12-16 . Livestock farming polluted rivers 300 times in one year . 2024-02-10 . en-GB.
3. News: Horton . Helena . reporter . Helena Horton Environment . 2022-06-29 . Queen could revoke Davidstow cheddar royal warrant over river pollution . 2024-02-10 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.