DAIRY FARMERS in the locale of and at the sole behest of First Milk’s creameries on Arran and Kintyre, must feel as if their businesses are constantly on a cliff edge.

They tholed an extended period of prices within the last two years which would have put many similar business in other parts of the country under, and now they hear that the very lifeline they rely upon has an uncertain future. The creameries which they supply are being sold off and yet again, these agriculturally precarious regions are looking into an abyss.

The fate for those lonesome creameries now lies in the fate of who, if anyone, will take them over. There is no doubt, though, that a strong ownership, willing to invest, could have much to offer the industry, especially in Kintyre.

Speciality cheeses and strong geographical selling points fill every supermarket and deli store these days and a proper marketing job on Mull of Kintyre Cheddar – in much the same way as the Arran branding, or variants thereof – would get the area’s milk-bearing acres off the tread-board of commodity cheese production.

Taking the tri-partite approach that Orkney has – producers, milk companies and the local authorities – provides a model for what can be done and we know that Orkney producers enjoy a milk price the envy of many.

But, these things are never run well by committee, however well-intentioned, and it takes a strong leadership to cut through the many challenges of such a venture – as well as a good cheesemaker.

The key, for Kintyre and Arran, will be getting the right partnership together, to make the right product and to market the many strengths the area can offer – and Paul McCartney has already given them their anthem!

Action times!

THE devolved government of Scotland may be chastised for many things, but it has shown this week that it does listen and it can act quickly.

By picking up the tab for the collection of fallen stock during our worst winter weather for a long time – as advocated last week in this column – it has shown that a close-coupled administration has the ability to shorten crisis reaction time. 

There is little doubt that had this been a Whitehall issue, then the extended lines of communication and meddling of bureaucracy, would have meant that – at best – any ‘weather aid’ would have arrived too little and too late.