Milk partnership to power Yeo Valley ahead

Picture: left to right, Rosie Palmer, marketing manager of OMSCo, Marcus Keenor, one of the OMSCo farmers supplying Yeo Valley with organic milk and Ben Cull, Yeo Valley's marketing director.

Yeo Valley, the country's most successful organic dairy brand and OMSCo, the largest group of organic dairy farmers are cementing their 14 year relationship by forming a partnership to focus on the development of the Yeo Valley Organic milk range.

The move is being made just as the latest Nielsen data shows that Yeo Valley has won market leadership of the organic sector with year on year growth running at 200%.* This is four times the progress of the total organic milk business, which is up by 52% year on year and well ahead of the total milk fixture, which is recording 6% growth.

By joining forces, Yeo Valley and OMSCo aim to ensure the organic dairy market leader has the growing supply of organic milk it requires to maintain its current momentum, while OMSCo's farmers will be guaranteed a fair price for the milk they are producing.

First evidence of the new partnership will be new labeling for the Yeo Valley Milk range. The designs help explain the brand's partnership with OMSCo and its links with farmers. These will be introduced in early September.

"Organic milk is now one of the fastest growing parts of the dairy business and OMSCo and ourselves are going to focus on building the Yeo Valley milk brand," explained Ben Cull, Yeo Valley's Marketing Director. "We believe it's a move that will be important for everyone. For the trade it means there will be a stronger brand leader, with outstanding access to the milk supply that's vital to keep the market growing in step with consumer demand. For the farmers it will put a greater focus on the vital part they play in the food chain and give them the assurance that they are going to receive a fair price for their output. For consumers there's the reassurance of the organic dairy business's most popular and successful brand."

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"We will have the only nationally available organic milk range with full traceability, from the shop shelves, back through the bottling to the individual farms. Traceability is becoming more and more important and we will be highlighting it on a new web site www.organicmilk.co.uk that will be a feature of all of our packaging."

Added Rosie Palmer, marketing manager of the Organic Milk Cooperative:

"The new brand partnership with give our members the assurance of a long-term commitment from Yeo Valley and greater confidence in the future of the organic dairy industry. It will also allow them to be more closely involved in the end products that they will see on the shop shelves."

Yeo Valley's milk range will be one of the products that will benefit from a £3m marketing spend that the company plans to invest in its brand during the next 12 months.

*AC Nielsen Scantrack data for three months to 150706.

*Yeo Valley's share of the total milk market is approaching 4.8%