FDBusiness.com

First Milk, the British farmer owned food business, has just commenced two major investment projects at its Haverfordwest Creamery in Pembrokeshire. Wales. Nearly £7 million is being invested in a brand new effluent treatment plant and the installation of new boilers which run on clean burn natural gas.

These projects come on top of a £9 million of investment in recent years which has made Haverfordwest Creamery one of the very best in the dairy industry.

The investment in new gas boilers, which are replacing the current heavy fuel oil units, will reduce carbon emissions at the site by a massive 3,500 tonnes per year, equivalent to taking 2,000 cars off the road. As part of planning for the effluent treatment plant, First Milk developed a unique partnership with Natural Resources Wales, which targets reducing not only the environmental footprint of the creamery, but also a large group of farms that supply it.

Finally, further investments at the creamery are currently being scoped out for 2014 and 2015. Part of these plans will involve increasing capacity at the site to meet growing demand for its cheeses. As part of this investment drive, the company is actively recruiting for more milk in West Wales and has a new contract in place that is paying one of the highest milk prices in the UK.