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British Cheese Crisis

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British Cheese Crisis

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Apr 18, 2020 10:55 am

Jenny Linford has posted this piece about Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese struggling in lockdown, mainly an interview with Graham Kirkham
They are currently able to sell barely a tenth of their output

https://jennylinford.co.uk/british-cheese-crisis/

Of course it’s not just Kirkham’s that are struggling, it’s all small producers and growers, the Cypriot strawberry growers were mentioned on another thread

There’s not of course much we can do about it, except to give preference to these businesses when shopping in farm shops etc or online.

Kirkham’s don’t currently sell the cheese directly on line, though Jenny says they are working on it. Kirkham’s, and other small producers do sell through Neal’s Yard Dairy who are still selling online

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Suelle » Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:16 am

The system wasn't wrong while it was working for them! I'm surprised at how many small producers don't have an independent online presence - apart from the fact that it's more work and less profitable than selling to wholesalers.

Another group of people who are going to learn something from all this.
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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Earthmaiden » Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:26 am

This is a huge problem and so sad. I'm not sure that even if individuals like us bought a small amount online it would be enough because of the demise of the restaurant trade and exports.

I have looked to buy cheese online but for everyday cheese for one the cost has to be a consideration, although it would be a huge treat. A local dairy here is pouring milk away because it is no longer being collected. They have set up a scheme where you order online and drive through to pick up and that has helped a bit. Again, the milk is twice the price of supermarket milk which puts a lot of people off. One of the many downsides of supermarkets selling food too cheaply. I really hope that local producers of food will be appreciated more after this and not just left to sink or swim.

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:36 am

I think that’s a bit harsh Suelle - why would a small business not expect the wholesale system to continue without major disruption? I’ve met Graham Kirkham, I’d be very surprised if he was good with t’internet

Neal’s Yard doing special promotions on small producer British cheeses, but as earthmaiden says you have to buy a fair amount, the “rescue” box is a kilo of cheese for £25

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby cherrytree » Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:50 am

The milk tankers bringing milk from all over the north Lake District and around are still passing our house although maybe not so many, to the Lake District Creamery in Aspatria..
It makes lovely cheese for many supermarkets and smaller outlets. Sadly the factory shop has shut for the duration. Because the county is reliant on tourism with so many hotels and cafes, the impact on the dairy farmers has been devastating with gallons of milk being thrown away.

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Binky » Sat Apr 18, 2020 12:55 pm

Someone will have to help me out with this.

If we have a population of x million, and they want milk in their tea, or in cheese, or a rice pudding, then it won't matter if they are on holiday or at home. The need for milk remains the same.

If the hotels/restaurants/cafes are not using it, then the surplus will go to the supermarkets or the dried milk business. I cannot understand why good fresh milk is being thrown away. Seems criminal to me.

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:46 pm

I don’t know how much fresh milk is being discarded. I suspect the dried milk business is at full capacity, specially if staff are at home

But a lot of milk is not used as fresh milk, it is processed to make cheese, butter, yogurtI, ice cream etc and this sector is the problem Jenny highlighted
1. Their distribution network is locked down, wholesalers and retailer, particularly caterers, so if they make the products they may not be able to pass them on to anyone and then they run out of storage, and then money because they aren’t being paid This is Kirkham’s issue

2. The workforce may not be able to work if they are in quarantine

These are problems for all producers, but more for small ones, big producers have sterile production lines that make self-distancing easy and sell directly to supermarkets and mass distributors

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby cherrytree » Sat Apr 18, 2020 2:24 pm

The supermarkets have their direct suppliers with an accurate amount that they need . They certainly won’t want to overstock.
The hospitality industry in Cumbria is colossal . The impact of Covid on the county is massive and as a result the dairy industry is suffering hugely.

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Earthmaiden » Sat Apr 18, 2020 2:48 pm

I thought this was interesting, of course we know about the fruit & veg picking but the bit about the cuts of meat and other items further down the article.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ianTodayUK

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Binky » Sat Apr 18, 2020 2:49 pm

Thank you for the detailed explanation. As a townie, I hadn't appreciated the storage/ supply problems. What an awful situation for all concerned.

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby KeenCook2 » Sat Apr 18, 2020 8:40 pm

Binky wrote:Thank you for the detailed explanation. As a townie, I hadn't appreciated the storage/ supply problems. What an awful situation for all concerned.


Seconded :thumbsup

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Seatallan » Sun Apr 19, 2020 3:51 pm

cherrytree wrote:The supermarkets have their direct suppliers with an accurate amount that they need . They certainly won’t want to overstock.
The hospitality industry in Cumbria is colossal . The impact of Covid on the county is massive and as a result the dairy industry is suffering hugely.


Absolutely Cherrytree. Some of the farms in our village are now throwing their milk away. So sad.
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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby lfoxr deactivated » Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:48 pm

maybe they should switch to long maturing cheese
until things get better. somewhere i remember
someplace having a cheese aged 3000 days.

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:09 pm

Parmesan is aged for 2 years

But they probably wouldn’t have the right cultures for something like that

And that would give them even more of a storage problem - they are running out of cellarage already

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby cherrytree » Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:13 pm

We have plenty of long maturing cheeses in the UK. There are essentially two different sources of cheese- the majority of our cheese comes from the large creameries and then the small independent cheese makers who are all over the UK .
We have dairy farming industry that is suffering at the moment because the hospitality industry is closed down because of Covid.

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby lfoxr deactivated » Sun Apr 19, 2020 11:27 pm

well given a choice dumping all that milk or cheese
aging it longer or changing temporarily the percentage
long storage cheese vs short mature cheese.
Is best option since powdering the milk is not likely a
option do to limited equipment available to do it.
Also even before covid-19 there was milk glut
so something has to be done with all that milk
and cheese. as for storage space aging
there is all that money for small firms to keep people
on payroll instead of layoffs or redundancies.
building new storage and aging facilities would be good
use for the money.

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Apr 19, 2020 11:54 pm

Money to keep people on the payroll comes with strings - it goes into the payroll funds

And storage for maturing cheese has to temperature and humidity controlled, you can’t just put it in prefabricated shed

And you can’t really build storage overnight, even when construction is not on hold because of the virus

and the point of these cheeses is that they are very specific and local - we are talking about a cheese that commands a premium price because it is certified as made by traditional methods, and it’s made on a farm using only local milk

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby Pepper Pig » Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:27 am


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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby scullion » Mon Apr 20, 2020 12:13 pm

two other cornish cheesemakers not in that list that do an online service are -

https://www.cornishgoudashop.co.uk
https://www.lynherdairies.co.uk/shop/

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Re: British Cheese Crisis

Postby karadekoolaid » Mon Apr 20, 2020 1:07 pm

I imagine that from a business point of view, it might actually be more cost effective to dump the milk, rather than use it to make cheese. You´d have to look at profit margins.
Even though some cheeses may be aged for up to 10 years, (and indeed, there is an instance of a Wisconsin cheesemaker selling a 40-yr old cheese!) that involves a lot of collateral expenses: storage space, maintenance, etc. There´s also got to be a moment when the cheese simply stops developing more flavour. Something like whisky, as a distillery manager once commented: " Up to 15 years, ok; more than that, it´s just marketing".

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