Dairy Crest has been recognised at two separate awards ceremonies for the ground-breaking work they have undertaken to make their whole supply chain more sustainable.

This year has seen a real focus on working with their dairy farmers with Dairy Crest developing and launching a ground-breaking simple, transparent milk price formula, expanding a programme to help the most small, vulnerable dairy farms who are not aligned to any retailers and the launch of 40 public corporate responsibility pledges.

The Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards saw Dairy Crest share the Judges’ Star Performer Award with British Sugar. The award judges – led by judging panel chairman Paul Wilkinson – praised both company’s “quite outstanding achievements. Faced with impossible dilemma of choosing between two equally fantastic companies that were doing something quite special – albeit in very different areas – for the first time the judges decided to make a joint award.”

Meanwhile, on the same night, at the Sustainability Leader Awards, Dairy Crest picked up the top prize for stakeholder engagement in its supply chain, beating fellow short-listed companies including Marks & Spencer, First Milk and Asda. The panel of judges commented, “Dairy Crest is a standout winner. What they’re doing is fantastic. It’s completely holistic; it’s driving real results and practical actions and feels like its part of a really strong strategy about forging stronger links with farmers. It’s magic. They’re a fabulous organisation.”

Dairy Crest’s Chief Executive Mark Allen said:

“At Dairy Crest, “Doing the Right thing” for our farmers, consumers, employees and business is our clear business strategy. We know that for the future of our business we need a healthy, sustainable dairy sector.”