Wyke Farms has kicked off production at a new, £10m butter plant.
The new facility, at Wyke’s Somerset base, is part of the supplier’s five-year plan for growth, which it said was “underpinned by sustainably increasing volume and targeting specific regions worldwide”.
The new dairy will enable the company to produce premium butter with longer shelf-life, allowing for shipping to export markets and reducing waste in store and at home. It has the capacity to produce 10,000 tonnes of product a year, an increase from 2,500 tonnes the company produces at the moment.
Wyke received £480,000 in by grant funding from the Rural Development Programme for England, which is jointly funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. The grant funding paid for equipment in the new dairy.
“The world butter market is worth nearly $20bn and is predicted to grow by 50% by 2027,” said Rich Clothier, MD of Wyke Farms.
“Increasingly, people across the world are looking for premium dairy products with provenance and history – butter is no exception.”
As part opf the expansion, the supplier plans to launch the market’s first carbon neutral butter, Ivy’s Reserve Salted Farmhouse Butter, to market in Q2 of 2023, produced in the dairy. Both conventional and organic butters will also be produced from the dairy, with the move following the launch of a carbon neutral cheese under the Ivy’s name in Tesco.
The new development is both energy and water-efficient in line with the company’s sustainability commitments.
“This investment will allow us to offer our multi-award-winning Somerset single-churned artisan butters, with longer shelf life, into regions across the world,” said Clothier.
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