South Scotland politician Emma Harper recently visited Arla Creamery in Lockerbie where she met with leadership and staff to discuss dairy processing in the South West of Scotland, as well as the work Arla do to support their farmers, to help tackle the climate crisis, and to support the health and wellbeing of their workforce.
Across the UK, Arla is supplied by 3000 farmer owners who are paid a fair price for the milk they produce – with all profits from Arla going back to their farmers, minus three per cent which is used to develop Arla’s facilities and capacity.
The Lockerbie site employs 242 people in the creamery, 113 in cheese production, and 131 in fresh milk processing. Half of the entire UK’s milk comes from within 50 miles of Arla at Lockerbie.
During the visit, the MSP was able to see all the production areas, as well as hear about the investment in the site to ensure it is future ready. She said afterwards: “It was fantastic to visit Arla at Lockerbie. Many Arla products are well known and include; Lurpak, Cravendale, Anchor and many others, including Arla own brands, and Arla supplies Starbucks, McDonald’s, Asda and many others.
“Dairy is a hugely important sector to the economy of South West Scotland and I want to see the dairy sector thrive and have a successful future. Our dairy farmers are the backbone of our society – they work hard to ensure their cows are cared for with the highest animal welfare standards. They genuinely care and the sector is constantly innovating to find more efficient ways of producing milk which streamlines production, but which also helps to tackle the global climate emergency.”
Annandale North Councillor Stephen Thompson was also on the tour and added: “The dairy sector is incredibly important to the local economy of our rural region, and in providing produce for Scotland and the rest of the UK, and it is appropriate that the hard work of all those involved in the sector, from farmers through to producers, is recognised.
“The farmer-owned model used by Arla is a way of ensuring earnings go back to the farmers in the region.”
