Bryce proves glass apart as he milks new product
There’s a quiet revolution being delivered to the doorsteps of Ayrshire.
Milk, the daily staple of households up and down the country, is once again arriving in traditional glass bottles. Dairies are putting it down to the Blue Planet II effect.
And the return to tradition means salvation for many small family farms.
Not so long ago, this year’s winner of the BBC Food & Farming Awards ‘ Future of Food’ category, Bryce Cunningham of Mossgiel Farm in Mauchline, was faced with rising debts, a falling income and a young son to take care of.
He knew something had to be done if the farm his family had been running for three generations, was to survive.
Bryce’s dream was to return the farm to its sustainable roots – to do things in more traditional ways, ways that a previous tenant of the farm, a certain famous poet called Robert Burns, would have been familiar with.
This meant bold steps, first to end the contract with the mega- dairy the farm had been supplying and then to install a pasteuriser to produce non- homogenised organic milk from his cows, known affectionately as the ‘ Mossgiel Girls’ for delivery directly to customers.
Bryce wanted to complete his sustainable journey by supplying his milk in glass.
“It might seem like an old- fashioned way of doing things, but sometimes old- fashioned is best” he explains.
Unfortunately, the cost of the bottling machinery was beyond the farm’s reach, but thanks to an inspired crowd funding campaign with the slogan ‘ Kicking Ass to Go Glass’ the farm was able to raise the £ 10,000 required in just seven weeks.
“We were amazed” says Bryce “I think we hit a nerve. So many people are against plastic that they were more than willing to help support us in our bid to return to glass”.
Bryce thinks that the ‘ David Attenborough’ effect played an important role and the feedback from customers has been nothing but positive.
“We’ve not had a single complaint”. The switch to glass has been good for business too.
“We used to supply 190 wholesale customers a week before changing to glass.
Now we’re supply 700 doorstep and wholesale customers” says Bryce.
The only negative it seems is that the bottles, which carry a distinctive Robert Burns inspired design, have become collectable items and Bryce struggles to get his customers to return them.
“We get the best environmental benefit from reusing the bottles many times over, which glass is uniquely suited to.” he explains.
Looking ahead, Bryce sees a rosy future for the dairy farm. “While we have a good customer based aged between 45 – 65, the biggest group are under 35, providing lots of scope to build long- term loyalty.
These Millennials love something a bit different and our organic, batchprocessed local milk in glass bottles obviously hits the spot”.
A spokesman for Friends of Glass, the organisation that supports the environmental benefit of glass, said: “We’re delighted to see this upswing in doorstep deliveries of milk in glass bottles in Ayrshire.
“It’s wonderful to see this sea change in people’s attitude to sustainability. Glass bottles can be recycled hundreds of times, in fact infinitely.
“That’s why they are so much better for the environment.
“And glass is a purer material to use – it doesn’t allow any chemicals to leach into your food or drink.”