Dairy cooperative Arla Foods has announced a major new initiative to support its farmer owners, unveiling a new on-pack marque that will help it to better communicate its core principles to consumers.
The Farmer Owned logo is accompanied by the tagline “care in every step – from cow to you” and will be used on Arla-branded products from this autumn.
Supported by a new marketing campaign, the product marque will offer consumers the opportunity to easily identify and trust that, when they buy Arla branded dairy products, they are responsibly sourced from a farmer-owned business where all the profits go back to its owners, Arla said. It also claimed that the symbol would show that products were produced with the highest expectations for animal welfare and environmental standards.
Its launch coincides with increasing volatility in the global dairy market and will allow Arla to maximise the returns that it can provide for the milk it sources. Last week, British dairy company Dairy Crest reduced the price it pays farmers on a liquid contract by almost £0.015 per litre, effective from the beginning of September, blaming what it called “challenging market conditions” for the move.
Arla will also stage a series of meetings with its 3,000 British farmer owners to discuss the company’s marketing approach, and will work independently with its major retail partners to increase the visibility of Arla’s cooperative principles in store.
Arla Foods head of milk and member services Ash Amirahmadi said: “Our farmer-owned marque is the natural step following on from our Support Our Farmers campaign and the launch of the Arla brand earlier this year. While we cannot reverse the global factors, it will play an important role in minimising the impact of this downturn and ensure that our business is in a strong position for when markets start to recover.”
Arla Foods farmer board director Jonathan Ovens added: “I have been travelling across the country listening to our owners and I am hearing loud and clear that our farmer owners support the launch of this marque.
“Our cooperative principle of standing shoulder to shoulder means that we fundamentally believe that any benefits that are derived from our business are shared equally amongst every single one of our farmer owners, for the benefit of all.”
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