MANY dairy farmers are feeling the pinch as the money they receive from supermarkets for milk is less than it costs them to produce.

However, Oliver Neagle and Julie Smith, of Uplands Farm near Botley, have diversified and have started what they believe to be the second vending machine service of unpasteurized milk in Hampshire.

Mr Neagle said: “We started around 18 months ago due to the decline in milk prices which led to our dairy farming operations becoming unsustainable, so we have had to find a way to generate income and pay the bills.

Hampshire Chronicle:

“We started the production of raw milk using a special vending machine brought in from Italy after obtaining a licence from the Food Standards Agency to produce it. We then sell the milk directly to the general public from the farm gate.’’ Sales of raw milk are very tightly regulated. It cannot be sold directly through the supermarkets, however, can be sold to consumers by the producer.

The first in Hampshire was Mark Stevens at Cole Henley near Whitchurch last year.

Last year the Food Standards Agency looked at removing restrictions. It concluded that the “risk associated with raw drinking milk still remains high” and there was “uncertainty over consumer protection and whether it can be maintained if the market for raw milk is expanded”.

However, Mr Neagle said that raw milk was healthy as it contained vitamins D and A and is higher in protein and fats than conventional milk.

The main benefit of selling direct to the public, according to the Food Standards Agency ‘is the fairer price for farmers’.

Raw milk typically sells for around £1.30 a litre compared to pasteurised milk that supermarkets may sell for 20p a litre which costs 30p per litre to produce.

Hampshire Chronicle:

“The downside, however, is that we only produce 50-100 litres a day compared to pasteurised milk where we produce more than 1,800 litres a day,” said Mr Neagle.

He also plans to sell raw cream which isn’t as tightly regulated.

The National Farmers Union believes existing hygiene controls mean raw milk is safe to the consumer. Spokeswoman Isobel Bretherton said: “It is important that controls on the sale of this product are proportionate and appropriate for the modern consumer and dairy farmer.”

She added that “All dairy farms are subject to Food Standards Agency dairy hygiene inspections that aim to ensure a satisfactory standard of hygiene is maintained and indeed enforced. Inspections cover premises, equipment, milk-producing animals and milk. The inspections ensure that milk producing animals are healthy and premises are clean, protecting the supply of milk from the risk of contamination by bacteria and other substances.”