Back in the Autumn, we launched our Woodhorn Farm organic milk vending venture – known locally as The Oving Cow Shed. Whilst we sell our topsoil and compost products direct to customers under the Earth Cycle brand, most of the sales process is one step removed. The majority of sales are received and processed by an ecommerce website with bulk bags delivered on pallets by contract hauliers. Milk vending took us a step closer to the consumer and needed us to get new systems and processes in place.

Our dairy produces around 5,000 litres of organic milk a day which is conveniently collected by a tanker and taken to our friends at Organic Herd – the cooperative we’re part of – for pasteurising and processing into milks, yoghurts and cheeses. It’s relatively straight forward and happens like clockwork – the ladies even know when it’s time to line up for milking!

Milk vending required a different approach. Our vending machines can hold around 200 litres but unlike our bulk milk, the milk needs to be pasteurised here, by us. We knew we needed to draw down small batches of milk from the holding tanks, pasteurise it and find a way to get it into bottles to sell to the public. When we first explored the idea, it felt a bit overwhelming; we were used to selling directly to another business in big volumes! Thankfully, when we began speaking to other farmers, we were reassured that there was plenty of support and all the machines we needed already existed. Better than that, we were told this is a thriving market with something of a renaissance in buying direct from the producer especially with consumers demanding better quality and understanding and valuing the importance of provenance.

A return to provenance

The last fifty years has seen how we buy food go full circle. In post war Britain we were used to high streets having a butcher, baker, fishmonger, and greengrocer, all of whom could tell you where their produce was from. Many rural communities still bought at the farm gate – fresh milk, eggs and meat direct from the farmer, daily. Then sadly the race to the bottom began with the advent of the supermarket. Price wars and questionable standards followed. Briefly, society took its eye off the ball and forgot about the people, animals and welfare behind the scenes. Homogenisation (the process of dispersing fat within the milk) only exists because of the supermarkets. Farmers feared that society would never get back that focus on provenance, standards and quality. All the time supermarkets controlled the prices, farmers were being pushed into making difficult decisions – either give up or accept prices that meant many rarely broke even. Then thankfully, the dissenting voices got a little louder and the media exposés generated better consumer understanding of what cheap produce really means in terms of quality, working practices and price to the farmer. These bred a degree of value appreciation, a push for better welfare standards and reminded people of the importance of provenance.

The demand for farm fresh food

Whilst we’re not back at that post war stage – and probably never will be – things have improved and there’s now huge demand for farm fresh produce. Farm shops are springing up all over the country and innovation is making it far easier for farmers to sell direct to the public. Food is once again something to be enjoyed. Consumers look for taste, they care about food miles and they’re taking a more active interest in the environment and animal welfare – which is great for us, as all of our milk is produced under the organic standard.

Take the milk vending machines as an example and all the kit that sits behind it. If this didn’t exist, we couldn’t sell milk directly to consumers and if the consumer demand for better produce wasn’t there, the machines wouldn’t have been created. In fact, such is the current level of demand, just for milk vending, the main UK supplier of the vending machines is literally inundated with orders.

Branching out

Now that our milk vending machines are in place, we’re seeing demand for other items including milk, bread, eggs, fruit and even cakes. We’re listening and planning – you should be able to find all of this in our machines in due course! We’re also co-operating with other farms and local producers to see what else we can offer through our machines as well as considering additional local sites for more machines – such is the clammer. It’s lovely to see and we get a little buzz out of every litre we sell. And let’s not forget, a few more pence too! Yes, there is a significantly higher cost of selling one litre in a bottle than shipping five thousand off in a tanker, but there’s equally something rewarding about someone buying a litre of milk from us, in sight of the fields and our cows. That has a real feel-good factor.

Sales in the first few months have been strong and we’re pleased to see that we’ve got a core of regular customers that appear to be buying a couple of times a week – proving it’s not a fad and there is genuine demand for quality local produce. If you’ll excuse the pun, the vending machines have also provided an unexpected third leg to the milking stool with lots of interest coming from other local producers keen to use our milk in their products. These businesses sit between retail and wholesale and they’re willing to pay a small premium for organic, local, quality milk. These companies are looking for us to supply hundreds of litres a day and we’re now seeing an increasing number of enquiries for Woodhorn Farm to appear in ice cream and other dairy foods.

The majority of our milk still goes to our co-op and probably always will. Because we’re part of that business, we get a fair price for our milk. But now there is once again a real chance for locals to buy our milk, back at the farm gate and enjoy the freshest possible produce.