Meet a Real Food Hero

Hampshire farmer James Hague is Britain’s newest food hero. He beat 4000 other entrants to take the top national prize in UKTV’s Food Heroes award. He won the prize – not with some fancy new product – but with good, old fashioned milk. The only difference is James’s milk is fresher, tastier and probably healthier than anything his customers tried before. A comment posted on the food award website summed it up: “As soon as my children had their first taste they knew this milk was special. They rush to get the cream off the top first – something that didn’t happen with shop bought milk.”

James and Helen Hague set up their small dairy herd at Lyde Green Farm, Rotherwick, near Hook in Hampshire less than three years ago. From the start they were determined not to produce ordinary “commodity” milk for one of the big dairy companies. They didn’t like the way the supermarkets and the big dairies were pushing family dairy farms out of business by ruthlessly holding down prices.

They were also unhappy at the way the big dairy companies had degraded the quality of milk. Here was a highly nutritious product full of vitamins, minerals plus a host of health-boosting compounds. But the big dairies with their highly mechanised processing methods – including homogenisation – were undermining the health benefits by damaging many of the delicate nutrients.

James was determined that Daisy’s Farm Fresh Milk would be treated like the “super-food” it was. It would simply be pasteurized on the farm and bottled or put in cartons. And his team of young delivery staff would put it on customers’ doorsteps during the night so they could breakfast on milk that was less than 24 hours old. This makes it days fresher than most supermarket milk or even milk delivered by the big dairies.

Daisy’s milk has gone like a dream. Already James and Helen have 1400 customers who love the taste of truly fresh milk. They also appreciate getting their milk from a local herd. It means they can visit the farm and see the cows grazing clover-rich pastures. For the Hagues, direct selling allows them to keep a bigger share of the value of their milk. Without the supermarkets and the dairies taking a sizeable cut, they can earn a decent living from the herd.

James sees it as a win-win situation. Consumers get a better, fresher pint for around the price of supermarket, “commodity” milk. At the same time more of the money stays in the local rural community instead of ending up in dividends to big company shareholders. That’s why he’d like to see farm fresh milk available all over the UK. Not only would consumers enjoy tastier, healthier milk delivered to their homes, the move would bring new prosperity to run-down rural communities.

Ironically the “farm fresh” movement represents a return to a tried and tested method of milk distribution. In the 1930s almost half of Britain’s dairy farmers sold their milk direct to local consumers. Although the numbers declined sharply after the Milk Marketing Board was founded, there were still six thousand direct sellers left in the early 1970s. Today most have gone, victims of political interference and over-regulation. But with oil prices hitting new highs, the economic climate is swinging back in favour of local milk and its lower carbon footprint. James, Daisy and the rest of the herd may be about to spark a small rural revolution. If they do we’ll all be a lot better off.