Farmers vote overwhelmingly in favour for MPL to become a cooperative

The next milestone on the journey for MPL/AFMP farmers to become co-owners of Arla Foods amba was reached today, Wednesday 30 October 2013. 

At general meetings, members voted overwhelmingly (99.4%) in favour of converting MPL to a cooperative and for AFMP to adopt a new set of Articles of Association.

Commenting on the outcome of today's meetings, Jonathan Ovens, Chairman of AFMP/MPL said:  "The board and I are delighted that our members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the roadmap.  The next stage in the process is for AFMP and Arla direct farmers to sign and return their new milk supply contract by 15 November to guarantee co-ownership. I would urge farmers, not currently supplying Arla and interested in becoming co-owners of Arla Foods amba, to contact Arla to register their interest."

Arla Foods UK is home to some of the UK’s leading dairy brands including Cravendale, Lurpak, Tickler and Anchor. Processing approximately 3.2 billion litres of milk a year and with a turnover of approximatey £2bn Arla is the UK’s largest dairy company.

Over 4,000 daily deliveries are made to stores and regional distribution centres nationwide, Arla's brands can be found across the dairy category and the company has a 26 per cent share of the GB milk pool. Behind this leading business is a team of circa 4,000 people across the UK located at our dairies, distribution centres and head office.