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Milk - we pour it on our cereals and stick it in our tea. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
In the UK, we consume over nine billion pints every year. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:08 | |
But have we forgotten where it comes from? | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
I don't think people really know how much work goes into getting milk | 0:00:10 | 0:00:14 | |
onto our shelves. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:16 | |
Along with the dairy farms and cows that produce it, | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
milk has shaped our countryside and our way of life. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:23 | |
The dairy industry is just one piece of the jigsaw, | 0:00:23 | 0:00:25 | |
within the whole countryside. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:27 | |
But now the industry is facing a crisis like never before. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:32 | |
This is the worst period I've seen in my working life. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:36 | |
Over the past 15 years, the number of dairy farmers | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
in Wales has halved. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:41 | |
On average, three farmers leave the industry every month. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:45 | |
It's an embarrassment on me and myself that I can't make it pay. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:49 | |
The traditional family dairy farm is in serious trouble. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
There isn't a future for every dairy farmer. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:55 | |
Milk is now a global commodity and dairy is big business, | 0:00:55 | 0:00:59 | |
at the mercy of the world markets. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:02 | |
Can Welsh farmers survive in this new cut-throat world? | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
There must be room for the small family farm. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
My name is Gareth Wyn Jones. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:12 | |
I'm a hill farmer and campaigner for the best of Welsh food and farming. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:17 | |
Do you know how much you are paying for your milk? | 0:01:17 | 0:01:19 | |
I want to explore the dairy industry from the inside, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
from the cow to the consumer | 0:01:22 | 0:01:24 | |
and from the farm to the supermarket shelf. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:26 | |
I want to see what it takes to satisfy our thirst for milk | 0:01:26 | 0:01:30 | |
and find out if there is a future for the Welsh dairy farm. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:34 | |
On my journey through the Welsh dairy industry, | 0:01:40 | 0:01:42 | |
I've seen the challenges dairy farmers face | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
in an increasingly volatile global market. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
The underlying thing is that we don't know | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
what's going to happen tomorrow. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:53 | |
I've seen how the big retailers source their milk and challenge | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
them on their prices. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:58 | |
As a farmer myself, | 0:01:58 | 0:02:00 | |
I feel supermarkets have played a big part in devaluing milk. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:05 | |
And how milk is processed on a huge industrial scale. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:09 | |
This is what it takes to supply the major supermarkets. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:14 | |
So, I want to see what the future holds for the dairy industry | 0:02:14 | 0:02:17 | |
in Wales and if there is another way of working. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:20 | |
I'm in the hills outside Lampeter to meet organic dairy farmer | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
Patrick Holden, a man with a different vision for the future | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
of Welsh agriculture. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
In my opinion, as a kind of direction, | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
we need to try to think of the farm as being the main source of all the | 0:02:38 | 0:02:42 | |
food that the animals eat. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
What we are trying to do here, | 0:02:45 | 0:02:47 | |
we are trying to feed our dairy cows to the maximum extent | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
from this hill. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
Feeding the livestock is one of the most expensive parts | 0:02:53 | 0:02:55 | |
of the farm's outgoings. So, Patrick aims to grow as much as possible | 0:02:55 | 0:03:00 | |
on the farm, all organic, | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
keeping the business as sustainable as possible. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
With a bit of luck, and some clement weather, this crop, | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
which is oats and peas, will constitute about 50% of the grain | 0:03:09 | 0:03:13 | |
that we are feeding to the cattle in the winter. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:15 | |
So, you are going back to the old-fashioned way of farming, | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
really? This is what would be here maybe 50 years ago. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:22 | |
Yes. After the war, there was still a lot of mixed farming in Wales, | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
a mixture of sheep and cattle, including dairy herds, | 0:03:26 | 0:03:30 | |
and arable land, growing grain, very often to feed the cattle. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:36 | |
So, this is really a way of you being self-sufficient, saving money, | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
-isn't it, really? -Our ideal would be to produce as much food as we can | 0:03:40 | 0:03:44 | |
from this hill, with the minimum reliance on outside inputs. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
At a time when farmers are under pressure to increase herd sizes | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
and cut costs, Patrick is swimming against the tide and staying small. | 0:03:54 | 0:04:00 | |
Do you think some of these bigger companies have driven people just | 0:04:00 | 0:04:04 | |
for that end goal, which is profitability? | 0:04:04 | 0:04:08 | |
During the time that we have been here, | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
farmers have been encouraged to get on a treadmill of intensification, | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
to have more and more animals, and I think that has done no-one any good, | 0:04:13 | 0:04:17 | |
especially the farming community, ironically. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
Are you telling me big is not better? | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
I think small is beautiful. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:23 | |
We walked very slowly up to them all together. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
Patrick moved down to West Wales in the '70s, | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
as part of the first wave of organic pioneers, | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
determined to start a quiet revolution in food. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
Come on, girls. Let's do a fan shape and get them in now. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:42 | |
He's farmed the 130 acres of Bwlchwernen Fawr ever since, | 0:04:42 | 0:04:47 | |
and now milks around 70 Ayrshire cows. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
Problem with modern dairy cows is that we've chased the yield... | 0:04:51 | 0:04:55 | |
-Yeah. -Resulting in cows that never get out, | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
give 10,000 or 12,000 litres of milk. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
Do we really want to drink the milk from those cows? | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
Ayrshires don't produce as much milk as other breeds. | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
But the milk is rich in butter fat and protein. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
It's the perfect raw material for another product. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:15 | |
Since 2006, we took a big step, | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
we commenced cheese-making. | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
Before that, we were selling our milk away. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
But we felt that we wanted to add value to the milk here on the farm. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
And as we speak, 80% of all the milk that is produced here on this farm | 0:05:24 | 0:05:28 | |
is going just across the yard there through an underground pipe | 0:05:28 | 0:05:32 | |
into our cheese vat. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
We are making it into a cheddar style cheese called Hafod, | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
so, really, the whole story is right here. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:42 | |
Working with expert cheesemakers, | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
Patrick and his family developed their own recipe. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
They now produce 200kg every other day | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
and sell to shops all over Britain. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
Wow! | 0:05:59 | 0:06:00 | |
That is a sight to see. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
-This is a cathedral of cheese. -It is! It's amazing! | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
It's just something that you don't expect to find on a farm, do you? | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
And these big lumps... When I looked in to begin with, | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
I thought they were just logs. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:20 | |
And you can just smell it. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
There's 30 tonnes of cheese in this store. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:26 | |
And there's something wonderful about this place holding the fruits | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
of the farm's labour for a whole year. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
I'm just getting a strange smell of hay. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:37 | |
Like I'm in a barn, a hay barn, an old-fashioned hay barn. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:41 | |
The cheese is a product of the farm, so the smells are of the farm, | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
of the grass, that the cows ate. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
-Yes. -So, this cheese is unique to this farm. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:52 | |
This store is full of microbes that are slowly transforming the raw milk | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
into cheese and giving it its distinct flavour. | 0:06:56 | 0:07:00 | |
That is just to break the seal, is it? | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
Yes, that's right. Right, now, what you do is take a piece off... | 0:07:06 | 0:07:11 | |
That's it. That's perfect. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
That is just so creamy. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:23 | |
-Beautiful. -You can taste another one if you want. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
Just to try the difference. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
Do you know what? I am definitely wanting to try another one. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
But that was amazing. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
The cheese tastes strongly of the farm and the land that made it. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:35 | |
This is your pride and joy now, isn't it? | 0:07:39 | 0:07:41 | |
Yes, it is and all food has a back story, | 0:07:41 | 0:07:42 | |
it's just that mostly we don't know it these days. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:44 | |
Because it is hidden from us. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
-People have lost that connection with how this is done. -Yeah. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
It must be really lovely for you to come in here and see the fruits | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
-of your labour. -It is, it's quite moving, really. | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
Of course, it's also scary, because we've got probably a quarter of a | 0:07:55 | 0:08:00 | |
million worth of cheese in this store, which all had to be borrowed, | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
because we didn't have capital to put into this business. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:08 | |
So, it's high-risk, | 0:08:08 | 0:08:09 | |
you do the best you can with all the different variables, | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
and then you wait and you cross your fingers. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
We are just about climbing out of this big debt mountain that we've | 0:08:15 | 0:08:19 | |
accumulated. It looks as if we are going to start really paying off the | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
-borrowing now. -But a massive gamble, a massive challenge. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:26 | |
The truth is that we had to go on this journey of adding value to our | 0:08:26 | 0:08:30 | |
milk as part of our survival strategy, | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
because you will know as well as I do that a dairy farm of 70 cows, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:37 | |
which in my opinion is the right size for a family scale dairy, | 0:08:37 | 0:08:42 | |
is not viable any more. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
So, unless you add value to the milk one way or another, | 0:08:44 | 0:08:46 | |
it's difficult to survive economically. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
I believe that this model of taking a raw material, in our case milk, | 0:08:49 | 0:08:54 | |
adding value to it on the farm and then selling a product with a story | 0:08:54 | 0:08:59 | |
is the right way to go - | 0:08:59 | 0:09:00 | |
not just for us, but for all farmers who have the capacity to do that. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:04 | |
Patrick found his farm at this size was not going to be sustainable | 0:09:10 | 0:09:16 | |
and he's looked for another way to make a profit out of what he's | 0:09:16 | 0:09:21 | |
producing and it's a big gamble and he has invested everything he's got. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:28 | |
But the control is in his own hands now. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
If we can get more people to do this, | 0:09:30 | 0:09:32 | |
maybe if there could be more of a sustainable future for some of our | 0:09:32 | 0:09:36 | |
smaller family farms, this might be, you know, a way forward. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:41 | |
This isn't the first time that dairy farmers have had to adapt | 0:09:48 | 0:09:51 | |
in the face of adversity. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:53 | |
Now, the figures are startling. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:55 | |
More than 4,000 dairy farms have closed in the past four years. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
The National Farmers Union says the industry is on the verge of | 0:09:58 | 0:10:01 | |
collapse, with thousands of... | 0:10:01 | 0:10:02 | |
The union believes up to a third of all dairy farmers | 0:10:02 | 0:10:05 | |
could go out of business in the next year, if they don't get more cash. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:08 | |
In the '80s, the European Union introduced quotas on the amount of | 0:10:08 | 0:10:12 | |
milk farms could produce and putting a levy on any surplus. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:17 | |
Milk prices crashed. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
Here in Wales, some dairy farmers took to the streets in protest. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
Leading the charge was Pembrokeshire dairy farmer's wife Thelma Adams. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:31 | |
Thelma, how bad was it 32 years ago? | 0:10:31 | 0:10:33 | |
Well, it was pretty bad. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
We were told that any milk that was overproduced and that we would send | 0:10:35 | 0:10:39 | |
to the dairies would incur a charge of 30p a litre. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:44 | |
So, a lot of people just threw their milk down the drain. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
Because there was no alternative. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:50 | |
People's livelihoods were at stake. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:53 | |
What were we to do on the family farm? | 0:10:53 | 0:10:55 | |
Was it worth carrying on? | 0:10:55 | 0:10:57 | |
But you felt very strong about it. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
Your feelings were that something needed to be done... | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
-Yes. -And it needed to be highlighted. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
I thought of this idea of sitting in the bath and bathing in milk. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:10 | |
And we rode through the town of Carmarthen | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
on tractors and completely snarled up the country town. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:32 | |
Thelma, along with a handful of other farmers' wives, | 0:11:34 | 0:11:36 | |
took inspiration from Cleopatra, the Queen of ancient Egypt, | 0:11:36 | 0:11:41 | |
who was said to bathe in milk. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:43 | |
So, did the campaign work? | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
Yes, yes. In a light-hearted way, but getting, hopefully, | 0:11:48 | 0:11:52 | |
getting the message across that it was serious. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:55 | |
One of your catchphrases back then was that milk is cheaper than water. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:26 | |
The sad thing is that things are still just as bad, or even worse, | 0:12:26 | 0:12:31 | |
32 years later. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:33 | |
Because what other product can you say now is cheaper | 0:12:33 | 0:12:37 | |
than it was 32 years ago? | 0:12:37 | 0:12:41 | |
As a result of the crisis in the '80s, | 0:12:41 | 0:12:43 | |
Thelma and husband Gwynfor decided to steer their farm | 0:12:43 | 0:12:47 | |
in a new direction. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:50 | |
This is the curds that are actually being formed. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
We are making sure they are the right sort of moisture for the | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
natural starter cultures to do their work. | 0:12:57 | 0:12:59 | |
And today, their business continues to thrive under the watchful eye of | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
Thelma's son, Carwyn. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:05 | |
They now produce a variety of speciality cheeses, | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
including Thelma's original Caerphilly | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
and their award-winning Perl Las. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
So, this is all one type of cheese, this one? | 0:13:14 | 0:13:16 | |
Yeah, this is all Perl Wen, this one. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:18 | |
Perl Wen wheels, they'll be about 1.2 kilos in weight. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
-Oh, there's a weight on that. -There is some weight. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:23 | |
-But there's still a lot of moisture left in that. -Yes. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:25 | |
So, that will drain slowly overnight. They are quite big, | 0:13:25 | 0:13:28 | |
but they'll end up about half that size by tomorrow morning. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
-Right, this is tough. -Is it? -Really tough, yeah. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
-OK. -Whatever you do, don't let go. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:37 | |
-You pick it up and turn it over. -Just... Just be gentle now, OK? | 0:13:37 | 0:13:40 | |
-Because... -Up off this and flick it over... | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
-OK. -Ready? -Yeah. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:45 | |
That's it. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:46 | |
That's not easy. That's not easy. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
-That goes back, then? -Yeah. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
Leave it to the professionals. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:53 | |
The farm no longer has its own dairy herd, but instead, | 0:13:53 | 0:13:57 | |
sources all of their milk from farms in the surrounding areas. | 0:13:57 | 0:14:01 | |
And the farmers that supply you are quite happy with the price | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
-they are getting? -I hope so. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
We can actually give them a bit of a premium back | 0:14:07 | 0:14:09 | |
from what they would get on a commodity market. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
They want stability as much as we do. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:13 | |
And I also want to be fair as well, at the end of the day. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
-It's a working relationship. -Yeah. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:17 | |
The last thing I want is an angry supplier, because, you know, | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
somebody angry isn't going to put love into the work, are they? | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
No, no. No. You are the middleman, really. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
You've got the power, as much as anybody else here. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:28 | |
I guess so, yes. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
Basically, the plan really is to buy as much milk as I can, | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
so we can process more and hopefully have more sustainable countryside. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:38 | |
That's the challenge for me, really. So I can give something back | 0:14:38 | 0:14:42 | |
-to the economy. -Is it a nice feeling to take that power back | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
to yourself, really? You are helping a lot of people | 0:14:45 | 0:14:48 | |
within the local economy by doing this, are you? | 0:14:48 | 0:14:51 | |
Yeah, I like to think so. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:53 | |
At the end of the day, it's a business, but, you know, | 0:14:53 | 0:14:55 | |
there's lots of other businesses you can do. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
This is something quite close to my heart, really. | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
-Yeah. -It's difficult to find work around these areas. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:02 | |
So, if I can do something in the countryside | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
and make other people work in the countryside, then it's great. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
Yeah. By diversifying, Thelma and her family | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
have secured the future for their farm | 0:15:10 | 0:15:13 | |
and for other farms around them. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
Many people believe this is the way forward. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
Dr Sean Rickard is a former chief economist | 0:15:18 | 0:15:21 | |
for the National Farmers Union. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:23 | |
He believes there are big opportunities for producers | 0:15:23 | 0:15:26 | |
who are brave enough to embrace change. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:30 | |
Farmers are going to have to just learn, | 0:15:30 | 0:15:32 | |
as every other small businesses learn, | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
that you survive if you delight your market. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:38 | |
There's tremendous opportunities out on the world for people | 0:15:38 | 0:15:42 | |
producing quality dairy products. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:46 | |
There's not much opportunity for people who are just producing | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
bog-standard milk. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:51 | |
Dairy farmers need to turn their milk into a really good butter | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
or cheese and offer people something a bit different. | 0:15:54 | 0:15:58 | |
And you can find a number of relatively small farmers | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
who have very profitable businesses doing that. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
So you're telling me there is a light at the end of the tunnel for | 0:16:04 | 0:16:07 | |
-the dairy industry? -Of course. -And that might be a way forward | 0:16:07 | 0:16:09 | |
-for these people? -Absolutely. If I'm offering you a cheese | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
with a certain flavour, perhaps a certain additional whatever, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:17 | |
which has been produced from the grass grown in Wales, or whatever, | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
that's a different value proposition and what you find is that an awful | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
lot of people are quite prepared to pay a few more pence for that. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:28 | |
That's the way to do it. That's the clever way to do it. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
That's the sustainable way to do it. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:32 | |
Wales is at the forefront of a food revolution. | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
All over the country, | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
Artisan food producers are reviving traditional methods | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
or developing new products. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
-Hi, Gareth. -Hello. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:50 | |
This is really different to see on a farm, a dairy farm especially. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
-It's great. -At her farm near Ruthin, Anna Taylor and her family | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
are using the milk from the organic Swiss Brown herd | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
to produce something for those with a sweeter tooth. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
Woo-hoo! | 0:17:03 | 0:17:04 | |
Lovely. It started as a bit of a joke, actually, and we said, | 0:17:04 | 0:17:08 | |
"Wouldn't it be great to make ice cream?" | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
And then once we looked into it more and more, | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
it became actually a really feasible option. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:17 | |
We are going to be making honey and lavender. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:19 | |
So, it's using a locally sourced honey | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
from the Denbighshire area and a really delicious | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
lavender essential food oil. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:27 | |
-It's really good. -Wow! | 0:17:27 | 0:17:29 | |
-So, you're going to do it all. -Oh, right! OK. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:31 | |
'While most of the farm's milk is still sold into the organic bottled | 0:17:31 | 0:17:37 | |
'market, some of it ends up here in the family's very own | 0:17:37 | 0:17:41 | |
'miniature ice cream factory.' | 0:17:41 | 0:17:43 | |
So, everything is weighed in. A bit of skill to this. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:46 | |
-Definitely. -Honey is not the easiest thing in the world to pour, really, | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
is it? You've just got me to do this, haven't you... | 0:17:49 | 0:17:52 | |
-Yeah. -Because it's difficult, I think. -OK. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
Lavender. I love the smell of lavender. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:00 | |
-Pure lavender oil. -Yeah. -That is beautiful. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:03 | |
Yeah. That's it. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
God. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
'In a crowded marketplace, packed with big powerful brands, | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
'new businesses need to find a way to stand out.' | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
Really smells nice. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:21 | |
'Clever marketing, a unique product, and a positive story. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:25 | |
'Even the big companies were small once.' | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
So, do you want to try a bit? | 0:18:30 | 0:18:32 | |
You made that. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:35 | |
I can truly say that is absolutely amazing. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:42 | |
Those cows have been milked this morning, we've taken the milk, | 0:18:42 | 0:18:44 | |
brought it in here and turned it into something | 0:18:44 | 0:18:46 | |
that anybody can enjoy. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:49 | |
It's making a lot more money for the farm than you could do ever selling | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
-liquid milk. -Absolutely, yeah. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
It gives us the opportunity to offer stability for the farm, | 0:18:55 | 0:18:59 | |
but also something else, | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
a different option for our children to have when they grow up. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:04 | |
And it's quite an easy way to add value to a product, really. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:10 | |
Definitely more value than just selling the milk. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:12 | |
When you consider what they are charging for milk in a supermarket | 0:19:12 | 0:19:16 | |
and the farmers aren't getting much, really, as a general rule, | 0:19:16 | 0:19:19 | |
it is adding value to that product | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
and showing how fabulous that milk is. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:25 | |
It's fantastic to see these new products doing so well, | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
but I know it's not the answer for all farmers. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
So, what about good old-fashioned liquid milk? | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
Over the past few weeks, | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
I've seen how complex the milk industry has become - | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
a vast national supply chain, very efficient and massively competitive. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:53 | |
So, you'd think this would be the last place for a small producer to | 0:19:53 | 0:19:57 | |
take on the big guys. | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
Well, you'd be wrong. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:02 | |
On the Lleyn Peninsula at Madryn Isaf is Llaethdy Llyn. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:09 | |
-Bore da, Nia. Sut wyt it? -Helo, Gareth! -Ti'n iawn? | 0:20:09 | 0:20:11 | |
-Ydw. -Ti'n iawn? -Pwy 'dy'r hogyn yma? | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
In the far west of North Wales, | 0:20:14 | 0:20:16 | |
they are too far from the motorway system to try and win one of the | 0:20:16 | 0:20:20 | |
supermarket milk contracts. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:22 | |
And as a small farm with just 80 cows, | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
Nia Jones and her family have found themselves struggling. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:30 | |
You know, our options are quite narrow, to be honest. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
The farm isn't big, so we can't increase the herd. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:37 | |
The infrastructure isn't there. You know, we'd need some more | 0:20:37 | 0:20:41 | |
sheds, we'd need more land, we'd need a bigger milking parlour. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:45 | |
And it just... | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
-The maths doesn't add up at the moment, to be honest. -Yeah. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
So, they've been forced to find another way of working | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
and Nia believes she's spotted a gap in the market. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:57 | |
There is no local milk at all in north-west Wales. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
It's all brought in to an area which is full of dairy cattle. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:05 | |
-Yeah. -Absolutely mad. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:08 | |
But that's what we're aiming for. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:09 | |
That's our selling point. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:11 | |
It's fresh, it's local, and it's out on the shelf in a day. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:16 | |
They are taking back control of the whole supply chain. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
They are milking, processing, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:21 | |
bottling and delivering their milk to the local area. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
The Jones family are literally betting the farm on the idea | 0:21:25 | 0:21:29 | |
that people will buy local milk. | 0:21:29 | 0:21:31 | |
You've taken a big step into the unknown, really. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:34 | |
We have. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
Still nervous about it? | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
Yeah, yeah. Yesterday was a bit of a... | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
"Oh, my God, what have we done?" day! | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
And then you have a good day, | 0:21:45 | 0:21:47 | |
because you've got all these insecurities. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:50 | |
People, do they want it, you know? | 0:21:50 | 0:21:52 | |
-Yeah. -And then when they start buying it, "Wow, they do want it." | 0:21:52 | 0:21:57 | |
-Does that give you a buzz? -Yeah, it does. | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
When I saw it on the shelf in Spar in Nefyn for the first time | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
and I saw a man putting it in his trolley... | 0:22:02 | 0:22:04 | |
-Yeah, yeah. -After I'd finished snogging him... | 0:22:04 | 0:22:08 | |
I put him down. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:10 | |
That's the best sales pitch I've ever heard. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
And Nia is not just selling milk, she is selling a story - | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
a small family farm, | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
a traditional way of working and a personal relationship with the cows. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:22 | |
I've got names for a lot of them. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:24 | |
-Have you? -Mm. -So you've got favourite as well? | 0:22:24 | 0:22:26 | |
-Oh, yes. Definitely. -This cow behind you keeps looking round. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:30 | |
Yeah, they do. She's called Horny, | 0:22:30 | 0:22:34 | |
-for obvious reasons. -Horny?! | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
I'm glad it's for obvious reasons. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:38 | |
Yeah. | 0:22:38 | 0:22:40 | |
My husband didn't do a very good de-horning job with her. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
That's nice, that, isn't it, Nia, but you've got names for them? | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
They think I'm absolutely batty. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:48 | |
No, I don't think so. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:49 | |
There's one called Nia Mai, which is my name. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
-She was born on the same day as me. -Oh, brilliant. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:57 | |
Milking is just the start of the process. | 0:22:57 | 0:23:01 | |
While about half of the farm's milk still goes to a large processor, | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
the other half is loaded into a tank ready for the next stage. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:10 | |
-All the milking done and all loaded up. -Yeah. Ready to go. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:13 | |
There's about 1,500 litres in there. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
Unlike the milk we buy in supermarkets, | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
which can travel hundreds of miles to and from huge processing plants, | 0:23:20 | 0:23:24 | |
this milk is going just down the road. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:27 | |
In nearby Pwllheli, | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
Nia's husband Sion looks after their new processing plant. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:34 | |
A substantial investment for the new company. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:37 | |
This looks a really complicated operation. | 0:23:39 | 0:23:43 | |
Today, they are processing this morning's milk. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:46 | |
In this one room, the milk is separated, pasteurised, | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
and homogenised. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:51 | |
Everything has to be done to the highest standard | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
-and is strictly monitored. -And the gauge on the front | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
is like a lorry tracker graph. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
Every time we pasteurise, we've got to keep that as a record, | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
that it has gone to temperature. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
It's not just milking the cow and sticking it in the bottle. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:07 | |
No. There is a lot to it, yes. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:09 | |
They also provide a range of products | 0:24:09 | 0:24:11 | |
to cater for different tastes. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
This is what they call the separator. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
Depending on what milk we want, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
it separates the cream out of the milk and we are left with the skim. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:22 | |
So, you do the same as any other big dairy, really? | 0:24:22 | 0:24:26 | |
You've got to really acquire for everybody's taste here. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
Yes. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:30 | |
Every week, this plant can bottle almost 10,000 pints of milk. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:35 | |
And it's all done by hand. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:36 | |
It's a bit of a different world for you to be in here | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
-than to be in the parlour. -It's the only way I can see | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
that we can go forward. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
I think this will be a better way of sustaining the farm from now on. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:48 | |
I'm overwhelmed with work, really. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:57 | |
We've had a bit of a shock how much milk goes into these places. | 0:24:57 | 0:25:01 | |
-Yeah. -We are taking over 100 litres just to the Spar in Abersoch. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:07 | |
So, you are taking 100 litres to one shop? | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
Yes. Yes, and I have been every day. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
While most of the major retailers sell four pints for a pound, | 0:25:13 | 0:25:17 | |
it costs around 50p more for four pints of Nia and Sion's milk, | 0:25:17 | 0:25:21 | |
but they believe it's worth every penny. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
Does it give you a good feeling to see it here in the local shop? | 0:25:24 | 0:25:26 | |
-It is good actually. It is. -You are in control of the price. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:30 | |
You are in control of the whole system. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:32 | |
And that's why we've done it, that's why we've done it, | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
more than anything, is to get that control back. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:37 | |
-Yeah. -You know. It's the only way I can see forward | 0:25:37 | 0:25:41 | |
for my son, for my children as well, yes. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:45 | |
Nia and Sion have taken on a huge task. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:48 | |
Where once their job finished at the farm gates, | 0:25:49 | 0:25:52 | |
now they're taking on the whole supply chain. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:56 | |
-So, what's at stake here? -Well, everything. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:58 | |
-I might as well be honest, you know. -Is it? -Yeah. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
Put all your eggs into this basket. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:03 | |
Yeah. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
Yeah, just hope that it works, you know. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
You've taken a massive leap of faith, really, haven't you? | 0:26:08 | 0:26:11 | |
So, you must have a lot of faith in this product? | 0:26:11 | 0:26:13 | |
Oh, yes, I do. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:16 | |
And, you know, it shouldn't be sold for less than it's worth. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:21 | |
There's a lot of science that goes into that. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
Many, many years of experience and if those farmers go, | 0:26:24 | 0:26:28 | |
where you going to get that experience from? | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
-It's time for things to change. -Yeah, yeah. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
And you're taking that first step, taking that change, | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
-hopefully? -Hopefully, yes. Yes. -Yeah. Da iawn. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
I've got massive respect for Nia and Sion. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
They didn't want to go bigger, | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
so they have taken that massive leap of faith and really gone for it. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:58 | |
They are selling the milk, bottling it, processing it, doing everything, | 0:26:58 | 0:27:03 | |
they are not depending on anybody else. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
They are really standing up for what they are producing. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:10 | |
And I hope, I really do hope, that they succeed. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:14 | |
And so my journey through the dairy industry is over. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
I've learned so much over the past few months. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:24 | |
It is an amazing operation. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:29 | |
I think it's changed my outlook. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:31 | |
Farmers are facing a complex set of challenges, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:36 | |
and I know there are no easy solutions. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:39 | |
-Keep going, that's what's important. -Yeah, yeah. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:42 | |
-Thanks, Gareth. -No problem. Diolch yn fawr. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:45 | |
But I really think that we, as the public, as consumers, | 0:27:45 | 0:27:49 | |
take milk for granted. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
It takes a heck of a lot of work to put it into that bottle, | 0:27:52 | 0:27:56 | |
to put it on that shelf. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:59 | |
It doesn't cost a lot to buy, but it's worth a lot to those | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
who produce it. | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
And I think we need to value it more. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:07 | |
So, can I ask you all, | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
to raise a glass of this fantastic white stuff to all the hard working | 0:28:09 | 0:28:16 | |
dairy farmers out there. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
Iechyd da. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:22 |