From 1st November, farmers supplying Wyke Farms will benefit from a price increase of 0.75 pence per litre.

Wyke Farms, based in the Mendips,  is the UK’s largest independent cheese and milk processor. This increase is the second in as many months from the company. It follows a 0.5ppl increase in October.

Wyke Farms representatives said the rise will secure Wyke Farms’ position near the top of the league table and will make its farmers the highest paid suppliers of milk for cheese. 

Wyke Farms said it would continue to review prices every month. 

In a statement, the company acknowledged the year’s hardships, stating that its producers had faced a challenging environment created by extreme weather over the summer months.

Richard Clothier, Managing Director of Wyke Farms said, “Managing the winter months will be challenging with variable silage quality and increasing costs of alternative feeds.  Milk production will undoubtedly suffer so we are determined to support our supplying farmers in every way we can”.

 
“If our industry doesn’t recognize this threat and work together to increase farm prices then milk will be even shorter next year.  There are farmers that still do not have feed cover for the back end of winter and if we get a late spring next year our industry could be in crisis”. 

Wyke Farms has been producing cheddar for over a century and has grown to become the largest family-owned cheese maker in Britain selling over 14,000 tonnes annually.