Currently enjoying its fiftieth year under the management of the Mead family, the Yeo Valley base at Holt Farm in Somerset is celebrating this week after having been awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development for the third time running.

Awarded the quinquennial prize in 2001, 2006 and again this year, for recognition of its continued commitment to organic agriculture and sustainable business practices, Yeo Valley Organics, which resolutely remains a family-owned business, is looking forward to another fifty years of production. The ceremony at Holt farm also recognised the contribution co-founder Mary Mead has made to the farm since moving onto the land with her late husband in 1961 and scaling up from 150 to over 1,200 acres.

On receiving her award, Mary Mead, a well respected voice within the farming community, who won the prestigious BBC Farmer of the Year award in 2008, stated "It’s all about people. You don’t get anywhere without people."

Holt farm supplies a third of the 100 million litres of milk which goes to make Yeo Valley products each year. The rest is supplied by Omsco, a cooperative of 500 organic dairy farmers, predominantly operating in the West Country. According to the manufacturers, the yoghurt can remain profitable because, whereas only 5 per cent of milk is branded, 75 per cent of yoghurt comes from recognised brands and consumer loyalty leads to secure dealings with large retailers. Eight to nine per cent of the yoghurt market in the UK is organic; a much higher proportion than most other products.

Queen’s Award

Tim Mead, managing director of Yeo Valley spoke to Farming Online following the awarding of the company's most recent accolade, which took place at Holt Farm on Monday. He explained why he feels the equitable, sustainable model adopted by Yeo Valley has proven so successful.

Commenting on the presentation Mr Mead said, "This award recognises everyone who works to maintain Yeo Valley's high standard of sustainability and best practice in organic farming. We’re delighted to receive the coveted award for the third time, but it’s extra special as it comes exactly fifty years after my parents moved to the farm."

Mr Mead, whose family has a tradition of farming dating back over 600 years, continued, "As a company which firmly believes we should be investing more in sustainable British farming, we are proud to be recognised. We are committed to pioneering sustainable methods to protect our local environment and safeguard the future of British farming."

Sustainable business model

Although the organic dairy company was described as a 'minnow,' prior to locking horns with dairy giant Muller in an advertising war during this year's X-Factor, the advertising gamble has paid off, rocketing the brand to further success, whilst allowing it to remain true to its founding principles.

The offices at Yeo Valley's headquarters are heated by miscanthus grown on farm, the dairy takes care to ensure distribution is undertaken as sustainably as possible and transport is optimised. Mr Mead said the farm has become more productive since converting to organic. The business also sells pedigree British Friesian bulls.

At a time when many in the dairy industry are claiming the only option they have is to scale up to remain profitable, Mr Mead maintains that cooperative organisation is actually the only viable model in the long term. He said, "Economically speaking, any costs saved through scaling up are lost upwards through the supply chain in less than 12 months. Whether farmers have 50 or 500 cows, they would be in the same position."

He questioned why, if scaling up risks reaching a plateau once all but a few farmers have been squeezed out or expanded to form ranches, and increased outgoings mean that they end up making a similar amount whether they scale up or not, farmers would opt for larger units, rather than taking care of a manageable number of animals and remaining in a similar position financially.

Government has failed farmers

Mr Mead also criticised the decision to dissolve the Milk Marketing Board, which was introduced in 1933 out of a recognition that the rules of supply and demand rules do not apply to the dairy sector. He explained this is "Merely the way in which the sector works; whereas with poultry or pigs, farmers can sit on a product, milk is renewed every day. There is no such option for dairy farmers."

The Milk Marketing Board was finally disbanded in 2002, ending the guarantee of a minimum price for British milk producers. As well as increasing insecurity through dismantling such protective frameworks, Mead said governments have also removed incentives to cooperate in recent years.

He used the example of set aside, the impact of which would be much greater than the sum of its parts if farmers were able to devote a large area of shared land to conservation purposes. Instead, the rigid framework means each individual has to have their own small piece of set aside, which is much less effective.

Mr Mead explained what he sees as the intrinsic problem preventing farmers from farming sustainably today. He said the disconnect happened as productivity increased and farmers could produce more. He said advertising of ever larger machinery has affected this, but government legislation, which encourages farmers not to cooperate, has seen attitudes fixed in place. "A government in my opinion should create the framework for a society to function. However, this government has sold off Assets such as experimental farms and done away with the structures that allowed farmers to flourish," Mead said.

Family run, organic management makes sense in the long run

Mr Mead went on to explain how the increases in productivity the dairy industry has experienced over the past 50 years through better nutrition and breeding cannot go on indefinitely. He explained his heard of 400 cows can maintain production at comparable levels to conventional dairy farms, with the use of homeopathic treatments and antibiotics in the case of emergencies.

He said this is the method with which he feels comfortable; that he would not want his animals to suffer unduly, whilst there is the option of antibiotics, but that there is a risk that those defences against disease and infection risk becoming ineffectual. He stressed the need to end the prophylactic use of antibiotics.

Tim Mead said that promoting the family-run model, and maintaining independence from large multinationals, although this means a huge amount of work for the Mead family and their team of dedicated employees, is the only long-term sustainable option. He admitted, "As you get bigger, you need more money to reinvest. We had to borrow a lot of money," but assured that Yeo Valley has reached a size at which it is comfortable and able to reinvest everything in the business. On the subject of selling out to a larger conglomerate as did Rachels Dairies, Mead commented, "I can’t sell this. This is where I live. I want to be here for another 50 years."                                                                                 

Clever Advertising Pays off

Enjoying the image of the plucky underdog, Mead went on to talk about the latest Yeo Valley advert, which has gone viral in the UK. He said, "People cannot underestimate how large multinationals dominate the top selling brands in any food sector," and pointed out that Yeo Valley's advertising budget is a fraction of that of Muller or Danone, its main competitors. Yet, by putting all of its advertising eggs in one basket for the second consecutive year, Yeo Valley has outperformed them. Last year, with the aid of some savvy PR, Yeo Valley's gamble on rapping farmers paid off, though Mr Mead admitted to being "very nervous" at the time.

This year, a follow up advert featuring a boy-band made up of farmers, which, according to Mr Mead, was less expensive than the first, has outperformed Muller, although the German dairy giant paid up to five times as much for its campaign, according to the Guardian.

The company produces its Yeo Valley Organic yogurts at its dairies in Blagdon and Cannington, bottles organic milk at its Crewkerne dairy and makes luxury desserts and ice cream in Newton Abbot, Devon.  Yeo Valley also produces a range of conventional retailer branded products for most of the supermarkets in the UK.  The company also has two logistics centres at Highbridge and Axbridge and its head office in Blagdon, Yeo Valley now employs over 1,400 people.

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