Arla Foods is a 100 per cent farmer-owned cooperative, with 12,400 European dairy farmers owners, 1,600 of whom are British.
Our business is founded on cooperative principles and our prime focus is to deliver for our farmers. In keeping with our strategy we are paying one of the highest standard litre milk prices, not only in the UK, but in Europe.
We question the motive of the farmers who are protesting against a farmer owned business. Their actions are preventing a farmer-owned cooperative from going about its legal, daily, business and from collecting its farmers’ milk, through blocking vehicle movements into and out of the dairies.
If Arla is not able to collect a farmers’ milk, potentially, it is harming the livelihoods of these individual farmers because the company is not legally obliged to pay farmers for milk it is unable to collect.
In addition, the protestors’ actions are increasing costs at the site which, in turn, is financially damaging a business that is fully farmer owned and whose profits are returned to its farmer owners.