Dairy industry in the United Kingdom

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

The CWS Creamery on Borough Road circa 1960

Production

Price of milk in the UK from 1990 to 2019, both each month and the two-year average. Values are in 2019 prices^[1]

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.^[2]

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 because 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.^[3] This pollution leads to fish kills and general harm to river ecosystems.^[4]

See also

• Dairy