Aspatria, United Kingdom
First Milk
Farmer cooperative (founded 2001) producing cheese, whey and butter across Lake District, Aspatria, Campbeltown and Haverfordwest.
First Milk operates three production sites: the Lake District Creamery in Aspatria (processing 1 million litres of milk daily after a £20m investment), the Haverfordwest Creamery in Wales (producing around 40,000 tonnes of cheese annually following £15m investment), and BV Dairy in Dorset (processing specialist chilled dairy products and serving customers across England, Wales, and Scotland). Together, the two cheese creameries produce almost 80,000 tonnes of cheese per year, while BV Dairy processes over 100,000 litres of milk daily. The Lake District site operates a biogas plant for effluent treatment that generates renewable energy for the national grid.
First Milk is a B Corp certified organisation and operates as a farmer-owned cooperative registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. The company emphasises regenerative farming practices and sustainability across its operations, including efforts to reduce water and electricity use and mitigate effluent emissions. The company has seen significant capital investment in recent years to enhance production capacity, productivity, and energy efficiency across all three sites.
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