Meadow Foods, the UK’s largest independent dairy and leading supplier of milk based dairy ingredients to the food industry, has appointed Ian Critchley as the company’s new Farm Liaison Manager for the North of England. The appointment comes as Meadow Foods looks to further build its presence across the region.
Ian will have responsibility for the recruitment of new dairy farmers, as well as supporting the company’s existing producers across Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire. Based in the region, Ian will also provide technical advice on production methods, current regulation and legislation that affects the dairy industry.
Ian joins the company with nearly two decades of dairy farm management experience, having joined the business from First Milk where he spent 15 years supporting farmers in the region, gaining a wealth of commercial dairy experience.
Jim Bebb, Milk Procurement and Logistics Director at Meadow Foods, comments; “We’re delighted to welcome Ian to our Field Liaison team as he brings both practical farm management experience and commercial dairy knowledge. We pride ourselves on being a secure and stable milk buyer who has close working relationships with our producers and Ian is well placed to further develop these relationships in the future.”
Ian adds, “Meadow Foods is a fantastic business with great ambitions. I’m excited to be working alongside our network of producers across the region and to build trusted and mutually beneficial relationships with them.”
In August, Meadow Foods announced the acquisition of Fayrefield Liquids as part of the company’s strategic objective of growing the business through organic expansion and acquisition. The acquisition was a logical progression to the close trading relationship the company has had with Fayrefield over many years, which included the integration of milk collections.
Meadow Foods is an award-winning dairy that operates from BRC A and AA accredited sites in Chester, Peterborough and Holme-on-Spalding Moor where they manufacture value added dairy ingredients in bulk 7 days a week for some of the UK’s best known food manufacturers. Meadow Foods currently employs more than 275 people and handles more than 650 million litres of milk each year direct from over 650 farmer suppliers from across the UK.
