A royal visitor for Dairy Crest’s creamery at Davidstow.

Prince Charles marks another step on the road to a sustainable dairy sector.

Prince Charles' recent visit to the Dairy Crest Davidstow creamery to open its environmentally friendly biomass boilers marked another step on the road to a sustainable dairy sector.

The boilers constitute one of the largest sustainable wood pellet burning installations in the country and are of national importance in achieving carbon reduction. The biomass project will deliver a 12% reduction in Dairy Crest's carbon emissions, a major step towards its ambitious commitment to the Carbon Trust to achieve 28% carbon reduction by 2020. 

Earlier in his visit Prince Charles had viewed Dairy Crest's cheese making process and started the production of the Davidstow Diamond Jubilee Cheddar. This will be matured for 13 months before going on sale next year, with all proceeds being donated to The Prince's Countryside Fund.

Looking at future challenges, both the Prince and Mark Allen, Chief Executive of Dairy Crest and Chairman of the Prince's Rural Action Programme, questioned the potential over-use of antibiotics in treating dairy cows. Mr. Allen said that Dairy Crest would fully engage with the rest of the dairy sector to seek ways to reduce the over use of antibiotics. 

Commenting on the visit Mark Allen thanked the Prince for finding time in his busy schedule to visit Davidstow. He went on to say:

'Davidstow is a special location for Dairy Crest - it exemplifies everything we are trying to do with our business. Our farmers supply us with high quality milk, from which we make great cheese that is loved by consumers. We are proud of the virtuous circle we have created - high quality products being sold at fair prices allowing ongoing investment in the whole supply chain.

'The dairy sector has plenty of challenges and it is important that we keep moving forward to ensure we have a sustainable supply of British milk in the future. As a business Dairy Crest is determined to be in the vanguard of good environmental practice. In addition to our new biomass boilers, we have and will continue to reduce water usage and waste into landfill at all our manufacturing sites and lead the introduction of green packaging.' 

'We know consumers are becoming more interested in farming and we and our farmers have an important role to make sure that milk is produced in a sustainable way. The consequences of the over use of antibiotics to treat dairy cows could be severe and that is why we are seeking to work with the rest of the dairy sector to establish best practice on farm.'