Morrisons ‘Milk For Farmers’ brand more popular than organic

Supermarket chain Morrisons has said its Milk For Farmers brand raised £384,000 in extra payments for the dairy sector during November.

The retailer has released sales data showing that last month shoppers bought more than 1.5m bottles of the specially branded milk, making it five times more popular than organic milk.

Customers also bought more than 50,000 blocks of Milk for Farmers Cheddar.

Milk For Farmers milk and cheddar products were launched in October this year as part of a special range to help dairy farmers battling low milk prices.

The brand was launched to give Morrisons shoppers the option to pay a 10p/litre premium on specially packaged milk and cheese, which the supermarket passes back to its suppliers to give to dairy farmers.

See also: Morrisons slammed over ‘misleading’ milk for farmers

Milk For Farmers milk is currently available in four pint, whole and semi-skimmed varieties, priced at 23p more than standard milk, with mature and extra-mature cheeses also on offer with a 34p premium.

Milk used in the Milk For Farmers brand comes from British farmers who belong to the farmer-owned dairy co-operative Arla, which has 13,500 members across the UK and mainland Europe.

Arla has a policy of paying all its members the same price for milk, so the money raised by Milk For Farmers is shared between 3,000 British farmers and 10,500 Arla members in other countries.

Morrisons has been criticised for using the Union Flag on its Milk For Farmers packaging, which suggests all the extra money raised goes to British farmers.

However, British farmers benefit when milk promotions involving Arla members on the Continent result in higher prices abroad.

Morrisons dairy category director Rick Bourne said: “Early sales have been encouraging and well above our internal forecasts.

“Milk for Farmers milk and cheddar is providing a meaningful extra source of revenue for dairy farmers thanks to our shoppers.”

In addition to launching the range, Morrisons has raised the minimum price paid to milk suppliers and increased the percentage of British cheddar sold in its stores to 99% in further support of the UK dairy sector.
 
A payment of £366,756 has been made to milk processor Arla to share with its members with cheese supplier Lactalis given £17,291 extra payment for its farmers following November’s sales.

Details of payments made will be regularly updated on Morrisons dedicated farming website.