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Cow stars in video to promote Campbeltown crowdfunding campaign

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to save Campbeltown Creamery where the renowned Mull of Kintyre cheddar is made.

A group of 29 Kintyre dairy farmers are trying to raise £50,000 to help take over the facility after owner First Milk decided to sell it. Local farmers who supply the creamery believe it will close without a community buyout.

Local dairy farmer Thomas Cameron said: “We are currently facing a huge and exciting opportunity with a clear mission – to secure the future of the Campbeltown Creamery for the benefit of the Kintyre community. We will also be in a position to save a well-known brand and contribute to Scotland’s reputation as a land of food and drink.

"The cheese is made with milk that all comes from within a 15-mile radius and from farms that are committed to securing their land for future generations and to contributing to the local economy.

“Dairy farms in the area need the creamery in order to thrive and the creamery needs us."

Campbeltown Creamery has been producing cheese since 1923 and making Mull of Kintyre cheddar since the 1970s. Customers include Tesco and Sainsbury's. But last year, the British farmer-owned dairy co-operative First Milk decided to sell it as part of a move away from smaller brandsLocal farms formed the Mull of Kintyre Milk Supply Cooperative and aim to fund the buyout through a levy from every litre of milk produced, as well as external funding.

Cameron said: “Our farmers are young, enthusiastic, committed to sustainability, investment and the next generation and have strong integrity – they are just the right group of people to secure this deal."

A Highlands & Islands Enterprise survey in 2015 found that the dairy farming sector in the Kintyre Peninsula and nearby Gigha contributes £3.2 million a year to the economy, providing 117 farm jobs on-farm and 49 indirectly across Kintyre.