Yeo Valley Organic
TypePrivate
IndustryDairy
Founded1961 (Yeo Valley)
FoundersRoger & Mary Mead
HeadquartersBlagdon, Somerset, United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Roger and Mary Mead (Founders)
Tim Mead (owner)
ProductsYogurt
Milk
Butter
Cream
Cheese
Ice Cream
BrandsYeo Valley Organic
Yeo Valley Cafe
Yeo Valley Organic Gardens & Cafe
OwnerMead family
Websitewww.yeovalley.co.uk

Yeo Valley (/joʊ/ YOH) is a British dairy company that was founded in 1961.[1] The headquarters are located in Somerset, United Kingdom. The Yeo Valley corporation is owned by the Mead family. In 2020, Yeo Valley Organic was the 48th biggest grocery brand in the United Kingdom (according to The Grocer) and the third largest yogurt brand in the UK.[2]

History

Yeo Valley headquarters in Blagdon

Yeo Valley founders Roger and Mary Mead began making yogurt using milk from their dairy farming herd at Holt Farm, Blagdon in 1974, selling it from their farm and to local shops.[3] Production of organic yogurt was started in 1993, due to a surplus of local organic milk.[3]

Yeo Valley production facility at Lag Farm in Blagdon

The present owner is the founders' son, Tim Mead, who took over in 1990, when Roger Mead died.[3]

In March 2012, the business was re-branded as "Yeo Valley Family Farm" by Perry Haydn Taylor's agency Big Fish.[4]

In 2018, the subsidiary Yeo Valley Dairies Ltd was purchased by Arla Foods UK, transferring the licence to produce milk, butter, spreads, and cheese under the Yeo Valley Organic brand to Arla.[5] Production of Yeo Valley Organic yogurt, ice cream, cream and desserts remained with Yeo Valley Production. Yeo Valley Production employs over 1,600 staff across sites in the West Country.

Yeo Valley Group installed one acre of solar panels on the roof of its Holt Farm Dairy in Blagdon, Somerset.[6] The company has installed solar panels across its other manufacturing sites including Crewkerne and 3,300 solar panels at its site in Highbridge.[7]

Recognition

The brand won a Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2001, for its work with its farming suppliers and one in 2006 for its "Approach to management with continuing support for sustainable UK organic farming thereby minimizing environmental impact.".[8][9]

Co-founder Mary Mead was awarded an Order of the British Empire for services to sustainable dairy farming in the 2012 New Year's Honours List.[10] In 2015, Mary Mead was presented with the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers’ Princess Royal Award for services to the UK dairy industry.[11] She was also awarded an Honorary Master of Arts Degree from the University of Bristol[12] and a BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards Farmer of the Year.[13]

Yeo Valley Organic was voted England's ‘favourite organic brand’ by Good Housekeeping readers in 2021.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Soil Association Organic Report
  2. ↑ Data: IRI Total Market. 29/11/2020
  3. 1 2 3 Nielson (2009).
  4. ↑ big fish. "Yeo Valley". big fish. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Farmer-owned Arla Foods and Yeo Valley announce partnership on liquid milk, butter and cheese". www.arlafoods.co.uk. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  6. ↑ Triodos, bank. "Not following the herd | Triodos Bank".
  7. ↑ Weston, Mercury (7 June 2021). "Yeo Valley competes £1m solar panel project". Weston Mercury. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  8. ↑ "Environment". Yeo Valley organic. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  9. ↑ "The Queen's Awards for Enterprise: Sustainable Development 2006". The Queen's Awards for Enterprise. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  10. ↑ Weston, Shaun (3 January 2012). "Yeo Valley's Mary Mead is awarded OBE". FoodBev Media. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  11. ↑ "Yeo Valley's Mary Mead on dairy industry hopes and Friesian cows". Farmers Weekly. 1 May 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  12. ↑ Bristol, University of. "Mary Veronica Mead". www.bristol.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Yeo Valley co-founder and farmer Mary Mead". Countryfile.com. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  14. ↑ "GH Food Awards 2021 Winners". www.goodhousekeeping.com. Good Housekeeping. 20 June 2021. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

Sources

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