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Dairy farmers supplying Lakeland Dairies will be required to register with the Red Tractor quality assurance scheme by the end of the year, or incur a 0.5p/l penalty on milk price from 1 January 2020 on non-Red Tractor milk.
In a letter sent to suppliers this week, the co-op set out the timeframe for achieving accreditation.
It comes as no surprise, given that Red Tractor assurance is now a requirement for many key customers based in the UK.
The merger with LacPatrick also brought with it an established Red Tractor-assured milk pool, plus retail customers who demand it as standard.
Lakeland has over 700 suppliers based in NI. To assist farmers in preparations for an audit, a team of staff has been assigned to help get suppliers accredited before the year end.
It will be the last processor of NI milk to move to Red Tractor. Dale Farm, Glanbia Cheese and Strathroy have all, bar a handful, suppliers meeting Red Tractor standards.
Meanwhile, Aurivo indicates that around 80% of its NI milk is in the scheme.
Glanbia Milk has also requested that suppliers go down the Red Tractor route within the past year, as this puts its NI milk pool on a par with the Bord Bia quality assurance scheme in the Republic of Ireland.
Glanbia Cheese
Meanwhile, Glanbia Cheese is understood to have informed the small cohort of suppliers that have yet to meet Red Tractor standards that they face a 2p/l penalty on all milk collected from July.
It is understood that this applies to around 12 suppliers, most of which have had an on-farm audit, but have yet to follow up on non-conformance issues.
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