A GROUP of 26 dairy farmers in Aberdeenshire have pledged their support to the newly formed North-East Milk Producers Association, which held its first meeting this week.

The formation of the association follows a study into the future of dairying in the region, jointly funded by Opportunity North East and Aberdeenshire Council, which was in turn prompted by the closure of Müller-Wiseman's Aberdeenshire plant last summer.

The new association's inaugural chairman Roy Mitchell, from Drimmies Farm, Inverurie, told The Scottish Farmer: “Dairy farmers in the area have been concerned about their future following the closure of the Aberdeen dairy by Müller a year ago.

“Following the study by ONE, and the council, which identified the possibility of setting-up a new specialist dairy processing facility in the area, 26 producers have pledged to fund a business plan," reported Mr Mitchell. “Each producers’ contribution is based on their litreage. Our combined total is 54million litres.

“There is a lot of ground work to do and we are being assisted on this front by SAOS. We have identified a few key areas to home in on, such as the big number of food manufacturers in the area, along with other retail outlets. We also need to look at possible sites for a small scale processing facility but are not prepared to reveal too much at this stage," he said. “Our aim is to have our business plan finalised by September.”

The 26 farmers involved in the venture are mainly Müller suppliers, with those not under supermarket contract required to pay a haulage supplement to have their milk taken to its Bellshill processing centre. Asked about the emerging association, a Müller spokesman said only: “Our commitment to the producers is unchanged.”

Chairman of the Muller farmer board, Ronnie Catto, Hillhead of Muirton farm, Whitecairns, said: “It’s good to see farmers putting their money into the new association. It shows their commitment. Things are still very much at an early stage and it will be interesting to see how all the figures add up.

“As things stand a number of the producers who have pledged their support to the association are on Tesco or Co-operative contracts and it could be a big ask to give those up," noted Mr Catto.

Agri-economist Peter Cook, director of food and drink and agriculture at ONE, said: “Following the prospectus selling the North-east ‘dairy opportunity’, three serious investment prospects were identified which remain under commercial confidentiality at this time. It is now very much over to the producers to take things forward with a business plan identifying potential markets.

“Finding new opportunities in the dairy market will not be easy," added Mr Cook. "The basic question has to be, can there be long-term milk production in he North-east without local processing?”

SAOS head of co-operative development Jim Booth added: “Our role is to look at the feasibility of setting-up a processing plant. Because of commercial sensitivity I can’t give any details at this stage. We have to carry out due diligence.

“What I would say is we have had a great response. The thing that is different in this is that producers are taking the lead. It’s up to them to drive things forward.”