Arla Farmer Owners Spread Christmas Cheer and Thank People for Their Support
Arla farmer owners have been out and about across towns and cities this week, handing out Christmas gifts to thank the public for the support they’ve received during a turbulent year for the industry.
Representatives from Arla, the farmer-owned cooperative, handed out Christmas cards that included money-off vouchers on Arla’s products. Locations included Glasgow, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Cardiff.
The goodwill gestures are the latest activities undertaken by Arla as part of the White Wednesday’s campaign to encourage more UK consumers to get behind the nation’s dairy farmers. The campaign is aiming to reach more than 40 million consumers.
This is the latest activity in the campaign that will see farmers using the opportunity to thank the British Public for the support they have received in a difficult climate and give something back. More than one million cards will be handed out by farmers to the public throughout December.
Arla, the UK’s largest farmer-owned dairy company recently introduced an innovative Farmer-Owned Marque on all Arla branded and some supermarket own-label dairy products, to reinforce its policy as the largest farmer-owned co-operative that shares profits between all its 12,700 farmers. Consumers purchasing any Arla product displaying the Farmer-Owned Marque can be safe in the knowledge they are directly supporting the farmers who produced it.
The move draws on research conducted by YouGov¹ that found that the great British public is keen to support farmers with almost two thirds of consumers (60%) saying they would pay extra for dairy products and have the money go back to farmers, while seven in ten consumers would choose to buy their dairy products from a company which is owned by the farmers themselves.
The activity by the farmers is particularly significant at this time of year as independent research conducted by Arla found that now is the time of year when people buy the most milk and a huge number of festive favourites simply wouldn’t appear on the Christmas menu without the inclusion of milk.
Ash Amirahmadi, head of milk and member services at Arla said: “More than 200 of our farmer owners have been out on the road to tell as many people as possible about the importance of supporting farmers this Christmas. The response from consumers has been overwhelmingly positive. It is extremely motivating for our farmer owners to meet the consumers that buy their products and tell the story of Arla. Our farmer owners felt it was important to also say thank you for all the help and support we’ve already received from the public.”
About the research:
¹Research conducted by YouGov among more than 2,000 consumers
Arla Foods is a global dairy company and co-operative owned by 12,700 dairy farmers circa 3,000 of whom are British.
Dating back to 1881, Arla’s purpose is to secure the highest value for its farmers’ milk, while creating opportunities for their growth. With production facilities in 11 countries and sales offices in a further 30, Arla is the world’s fifth largest dairy company and largest supplier of organic dairy products. Arla has a total of more than 18,000 colleagues and its products are sold under the well-known brands Arla®, Lurpak® and Castello® in more than 100 countries.
Arla Foods UK is the largest dairy company in the country and is home to leading dairy brands Anchor, Cravendale, and Lactofree. It has a turnover of £2.3 billion. As well as being number one in fresh liquid milk, butter, spreads and cream, Arla is the UK’s largest cheese manufacturer. It has also built the world’s largest fresh milk facility located at Aylesbury and has plans for it to be the first zero carbon site of its kind. The UK business has a team of approximately 3,500 colleagues located at its dairies, distribution centres and head office.