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Gloucestershire Business News

BREAKING: Dale Vince wades in to Shire Hall milk row

Ecotricity and Forest Green Rovers boss Dale Vince has stirred up an already heated row over cows' milk which has seen angry Gloucestershire farmers force Shire Hall to explain the meaning of its campaign to slash harmful emissions.

Coinciding with the regular #Veganuary campaign, Gloucestershire Councy Council launched a drive to achieve lower carbon consumer habits by urging residents to swap cows' milk for plant-based alternatives - but the move triggered fury in some farming quarters across the county.

GCC's 'Swaps in Seconds' campaign is currently running online and it suggests residents consider and share ideas on easy ways to reduce their impact on the environment.

With links to advice and help from the Meat Free Mondays campaign, the council's initiative engages people on the basis of small actions creating big results – including the suggestion that different food choices could be considered, alongside transport, energy, shopping habits and how we work.

Cllr David Gray, cabinet member for environment, said at the campaign launch: "Dairy is one of the big producers of methane so our suggestion is every so often instead of having milk with your coffee, you have oat milk or soy and that way make a small difference in the overall impact of your lifestyle on the environment".

The council's message on dairy milk is underpinned by research from the University of Oxford which established that dairy milk creates three times the greenhouse gas emissions of any plant-based alternative. Research collated by Statista also suggests that oat milk, at 0.45kg emissions per litre, dramatically outpaces dairy milk's rating of 3.7kg.

But after a year in which farmers have been already converging on Westminster to protest their anticipated plight over changes to inheritance tax, many farmers in the county's dairy sector imediately sought to push back on the campaign's assertions - and claim the campaign is "demonising"them.

Dairy farmer Jenni Hobbs, whose Wholly Gelato firm, run from Barhouse Farm in Elmore sells milk and ice cream, said: "Our government and our councils are very much trying to push this agenda which is easy and it may save a few emissions, but they are not looking at our lifestyles now."

She added: "We already have the right temperature, we already have rainfall, we always have grass so as long we utilise that grass, it's pretty natural."

A recent carbon audit at the business, she claimed, found that milk production there generates 0.93kg of CO2 per litre of milk - lower than the average for UK dairy milk, she said, stands at 1.25kg CO2/liter.

Jacob James, of West Midlands-based Whole Moo World, which supplies vending machines around Gloucester, also pushed back against such findings as a University of Oxford study which states that producing a glass of dairy milk results in almost three times the greenhouse gas emissions of any non-dairy alternative.

He said: "It is extremely frustrating because it seems that everywhere you look there's farmers being demonised. Unfortunately, emissions are a given no matter what route we go down, and we should be looking at getting the best bang for our buck in terms of the nutrients produced from those emissions."

He added that alternative milks are often shipped thousands of miles: "If people bought local [milk], you can use reusable glass bottles that you can then get far more than one use out of, have minimal processing attached to the milk, minimal food miles, and give your body the nutrients it craves."

Against this reaction, Cllr Gray subsequently stated: "I understand the point about local dairy farmers and I'm very supportive of the farmers in terms of encouraging people to buy milk locally and look for the labelling. We are not saying don't touch milk. The campaign is all about small changes."

But Gloucestershire businessman Dale Vince OBE, the boss of green energy firm Ecotrocity and owner of vegan football club Forest Green Rovers, said the row amounted to a storm in a coffee cup.

Mr Vince told Punchline-Gloucester.com: "I am surprised to see people getting stirred up over what to add to your morning coffee. It's good advice from Gloucestershire County Council to suggest that people should consider swapping dairy milk for alternatives. The Council has now been pressured to apologise when its only offence is to suggest healthy and sustainable lifestyle change."

He added: "Dairy does not provide essential nutrients. The same goes for red meat. Decades of research have shown that getting protein from plant sources is better for your health and reduces risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers and dementia.

"It seems like sensible advice from the Council. Countries such as Denmark and Portugal already have strategies to help people to eat and drink more sustainably, so why can't we?"

● Latest figures from Mintel suggest that one in three Brits now drink plant-based milk, while 23% of adults now see the alternative as being better for their health.

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