Supporting farmers in the Peak District
Peak Choice and Peak District Dairy Wagon
The ‘Peak Choice’ scheme is aimed at providing the region’s upland farmers with a way to work together to earn a premium for their produce, while giving nearly six million consumers living around the area the chance to buy high quality, sustainable, beef and lamb.
Following a visit to meet Peak District farmers in 2005, during which he heard first hand the economic difficulties faced by small hill farmers, the Prince asked Business in the Community to look into new ways that hill farming could be made more commercially sustainable while maintaining its traditional value to the sensitive environment of the Peak District. The project resulted in the creation of ‘Peak Choice’.
Fourteen farmers will sell premium beef and lamb through the business. The produce will be delivered via a box scheme, which will be available on the internet at www.peakchoice.co.uk and through certain local food outlets. The ‘Peak Choice’ logo incorporates a watercolour of The Peak District by the Prince.
The Peak District Dairy Wagon is an innovative mobile training facility to enable dairy farmers to try out dairy processing, using their own milk, while gaining a realistic understanding of how they could fit their other farming activities around the milk processing.
A qualified dairy technician will train the farmers onboard, and assist them to develop a marketable range of high, value-added and distinctive dairy products – such as cheeses, yoghurts, butters, flavoured milks and ice-creams. Farmers will then be given advice on whether to venture into commercial production on their own, or as part of a co-operative with other users of the Dairy Wagon.
The original idea came from farmers’ wives Sue Prince and Sarah Helliwell, and although initially supported by the Peak District National Park Authority the idea struggled to secure funding.
However, with help from Business in the Community and its president Prince Charles, the scheme successfully secured funding from the Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership (DDEP) and East Midlands Development Agency.
The unit was designed and built by specialist food engineers at Reaseheath College, Nantwich, who selected the equipment, designed the vehicle’s internal layout and have ensured that rigorous environmental health and trading standards specifications are met. Reaseheath staff will continue to provide technical support throughout the project and will oversee all training.
Said Damien Murphy, Reaseheath’s project engineering manager: “This is one of the biggest, most exciting projects undertaken for some years and it may well shake up the farming industry.”
John Stone, chairman of the Peak District Dairy Wagon Company, added: “This project will allow us and our families to explore other ways to add value to our milk without the huge initial financial risk.”
For more information please visit www.peakchoice.co.uk and www.dairywagon.co.uklast updated: 01-08-2007 12:53