Formed in 2008, the Little Milk Company is a sustainability-focused group of 10 Irish organic dairy farmers who pooled their resources to create a range of award-winning cheeses and dairy products. Under owner-manager Conor Mulhall, the company has enjoyed great success in recent years, including scooping “best organic cheese” at the British Cheese Awards in 2013.
The company’s credentials received a further boost after becoming a verified member of Origin Green, the national sustainability programme run by the Irish Food Board, Bord Bia. We spoke to Conor about how the Little Milk Company came about, the role of sustainability in the company, and his tips for those looking to replicate their accomplishments.
Seek out expertise
“I grew up in Dublin, I knew nothing about farming. The 10 farmers that make up the Little Milk Company were part of Ireland’s small organic farming community, looking to move up the value chain. When I met them, we set out our fields of expertise and agreed to come together to form the Little Milk Company. From there, we sought out award-winning cheese makers that could take our milk and make something that we could take to market, rather than invest in cheese-making equipment. It’s a perfect example of “co-opetition”; although strictly speaking, the farmers and the cheese makers were competitors, merging our expertise to create an organic cheese was beneficial to everyone”.
Be passionate
“At the start, we didn’t have shelf-testing done, we didn’t have any buyers … we didn’t even have a business card, or a phone number. But we had a good product and a forward-thinking, progressive team. Long before I met them, the farmers were passionate about what they do … there are far easier ways to make a living than organic farming! These guys were among the pioneers of organic farming in Ireland. They believe in it. And they absolutely inherently believe in sustainability, and optimising everything they use”.
“It is a defining part of what the farmers do, and is a core ethos of the business. Having an organisation like Bord Bia (Irish Food Board) backing you up with actions as well as words is fabulous. We’re out in the international markets, selling a product that we believe in, so being a member of an independently verified sustainability programme such as Origin Green really backs up our claims and highlights our company’s ethos”.
Use all available resources
“When it comes to what consumers want, we don’t just take a stab in the dark. There is a huge amount of consumer research available from the Bord Bia library, reports from focus groups, market research, surveys… and when those reports come out, we sit down and read them. It seems dull and boring, but for us it’s invaluable”.
“As a small business we couldn’t dream of paying for these surveys, so it’s great to have them available from the Bord Bia library. We take that information and distill it down to find what it means for us. Bord Bia has a consumer insight team who take studies from around the world, allowing us to see how far ahead other organic markets are. All this information is publicly available, if you’re willing to put in the research hours”.
Embrace challenge
“The great thing about Origin Green is that no matter what level of sustainability you’re at, they challenge you to do better. So after we became verified members of the programme, we could have rested on our laurels, but Bord Bia challenge you to always do better. And we embrace that; we reassess what we’re good at and look for ways to improve”.
“It’s in keeping with what we understand our customers want. We’ve recently done a biodiversity audit at our own cost, and have set ourselves a goal to increase biodiversity on our farms. Meeting our Origin Green targets really focused us to find ways to do everything better”.
Content on this page is paid for and provided by the Irish Food Board, supporter of the food hub.
