UK-based Wyke Farms and The Organic Milk Suppliers Cooperative (OMSCo) have announced a partnership to expand organic cheese production, distribution and sales.

Through this collaboration, the companies aim to treble their range of organic cheese that totalled over 1,000 tonnes last year. The new arrangement will see Wyke Farms sourcing all the milk requirements for organic cheese production from OMSCo, while OMSCo will increase its range of specialist organic cheese made by Wyke Farms for export markets, and also take a share in the ownership of bulk cheddar stocks for a proportion of domestic and export sales.

The additional milk will allow Wyke Farms and OMSCo to capitalise on the growth of the organic market on a global scale both to EU and USDA specifications. The arrangement also allows Wyke and OMSCo to jointly own the maturing cheese stock so that cheddar stock can be built to supply a world market looking for longer matured cheddars with more flavour.

Rich Clothier, managing director at Wyke Farms, comments, "Our combined scale and efficiency makes us the logical supply partners for organic cheddar. It gives us the capacity and milk supply necessary to expand organic cheese production rapidly. It also gives us access to OMSCos different milk types to produce organic cheddar with different attributes and with access to different markets."

OMSCos managing director Richard Hampton, adds, "This new chapter presents an exciting opportunity to drive our joint business together, supporting the development of cheese stocks as well as allowing us to further develop our supplies of UK organic whey for use in our rapidly expanding specialist ingredients business."