Things turn sour at the Eisteddfod as council snubs local milk for imported oat drink
The Farmer’s Union of Wales (FUW) is demanding to know why Ceredigion County Council is using an imported oat milk in smoothies at their Eisteddfod stall, rather than local cow’s milk.
The farming union has called on the leader of the council to explain the reasoning behind the move after members of the public raised concerns about the lack of choice of cow’s milk on the council stand yesterday.
Pointing out that this year’s Eisteddfod was held on dairy farmland, the FUW demanded an explanation for the questionable choice to use the French oat drink instead of local milk.
Ceredigion County Council claimed that the decision to use the oat drink rather than cow’s milk was based on concerns about keeping milk at the correct temperature, but President of the Farmers’ Union of Wales, Glyn Roberts said that there were big questions to be answered about this excuse.
Anger
Mr Roberts said: “The Welsh Farmers’ Union – like tens of other organizations – has regularly given out real milk on stands at shows and events for decades – even at the Royal Show a few weeks ago when the temperature was higher than ever.
“There is nothing out of the ordinary about the weather and the temperature this week, and the question still stands as to why Ceredigion County Council has decided to promote an oat drink that has been imported from France rather than a local drink of the highest standard.
“Ceredigion is one of the most famous counties in Wales for real milk production and the industry makes a huge contribution to the county’s economy and culture.
“The field and competitions of the Eisteddfod are full of people and children who come from dairy farms, as well as people who work in the industry and there is a sense of anger and disappointment about choosing a French oat drink instead of milk obviously local.”
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Crachach decision makers at Eisteddfod show no loyalty to local producers. Shipping in a fancy faddish drink shows no awareness of food miles as an underlying factor even if they were out to cater for those with a dairy allergy. Surely a non dairy “milk” could be sourced from within Wales or adjacent parts of England.
Dim pwintiau am ymdrech uffernol o ddiffygiol.
Oat milk SHOUD be sourcable in Cymru. The process is simple:-
It’s that simple. Even Brexiteer anti-French farmers should be able to understand that.
Also it’s not a “faddy” drink. It’s been around a few decades now and is increasing in popularity. When they start selling it for a fair price instead of applying a Hipster tax, cows milk will struggle more
Hipster tax ? More like retailers profiteering. Nothing new there. With a bit of effort by those procurement professionals there are most likely a few home based traders who could have been invited to tender competitively for the supply of oat and other drinks. I favour the nut based but will have to check in future whether our retailers source in Wales, the UK or even further afield. This food miles thing is becoming a real issue and can be mitigated by more imaginative agrifood venturing here in Wales.
Oh I agree it’s retailers / producers profiteering. As a vegetarian I have come across the “Vegan Tax”, where you get charged at least another 25% extra for something comparable to an omnivorous product. EG Goofellas Pizza. EG A VEGAN vegetable pizza (cheese alternative) costs £2.75, where a normal one costs £2.00. Profiteering. Same with oat milk. Slap a penny farthing on the side or a “quirky” message and a litre goes for twice the price of cows milk (up to £2.00 a litre) but you can get a good one in Lidl for 80p. I would be puzzled if… Read more »
I hope it was this one:
https://www.madebyland.co.uk/
Welsh Oat Milk.
It’s a real shame that there’s no Cymraeg on their website though 🙁
Dunno, but thanks for the pointer. I shall try and find somewhere that sells it.
Not an easy task! Must ask our local Vegan store.
Iesu Grist! It’s simple!
Vegans. Lactose allergies. Coeliacs disease. It tastes nice, keeps well, fewer health risks and people like it.
And it is in no way inferior to milk even “local superior milk”.
The dig that it is also FRENCH Oat milk, tells me everything I need to know about those farmers.
Shut your whining Brexiteers. Stop complaining that nobody is giving you a leg up selling your old fashioned product, and grow oats.
‘And it is in no way inferior to milk even “local superior milk”.’
As long as you don’t use milkiness as a measure of the two products I suppose!
I don’t. I use taste, nutrition and shelf life. Also best flavour of all in coffee. Oat milk wins on all metrics except cost.
I have nothing against oat milk in principle. However, it does not compare with dairy milk (or with soya milk) in terms of protein content. Also, whenever I’ve tried adding it to coffee it has curdled horribly.
Nut milk is OK with cereals. I use it if my semi skimmed is down to the last cup or 2 of tea/coffee ! Horses for courses !
It has half the protein of bovine milk 4g/100ml, but people overestimate how much protein they need anyway. An adult male can only process 63g of protein per day, even if they are gym bunnies. The rest gets poo-ed out. You can easily get your daily recommended amount by eating a varied diet. A pint of oat milk per day gets you 20g of protein. Some beans, a slice of wholemeal bread and an egg will take you the rest of the way. And for the mugs, there’s always protein powder or Huel if they are desperate to overdo it.… Read more »
“Oat milk wins on all metrics except cost.”
And milkiness of course!
Completely understand. Some people love the chewy fattiness of milk. I have it sometimes (only skimmed), but am choosing it less as more palatable options become available. Right now I only buy bovine milk for price.
Obviously by your Pro EU comment you are NOTof Welsh farmers? The French farmers like their fishermen take no notice of government instruction if they don’t agree with it. Very much like THE NRA in the States, they wield so much power and they are a law to themselves. Perhaps you also support prime agricultural land being bought at inflated prices to grow trees?
So one cannot be pro-EU AND a Welsh farmer? I am really not interested in your cyclopean hatred of the French.
But please, throw some other reductio ad absurdum accusations at me Brexiteer. Oh and enjoy the chaos you have brought on yourself
But I AM curious. Who SELLS this prime agricultural land at inflated prices to grow trees?
Being prime agricultural land, I am guessing it is Welsh farmers? Maybe they should stop doing that if it’s problematic
“Maybe they should stop doing that if it’s problematic”
That’s a simplistic and naiive suggestion.
I’ve heard a similar argument from people who say that the holiday homes issue is the fault of the Welsh for not ensuring they only sell their properties to people who are going to live in them full time.
Following Brexit, which farmers voted for, and the trade deals with Aus/NZ, farmers will have to get used to produce from abroad replacing what they now sell, due to price.
same as bakers, bankers and candle stick makers, supermarket shelf stackers, firefighters and nurses, 52% of voters voted for brexit, some farmers did, some didn’t
out of approx 2.5 million eligible to vote in Wales 271,404 actually bothered, and the deals you refer to have been brought into place by the english tory government, nothing to do with the farming industry.
Brexit won in Cymru by 80 thousand votes, not saying all of them were farmers, but I saw plenty of ” vote leave ” adverts on hay bales etc in fields while travelling around Cymru. Please dont complain when you won, you got what you voted for, I lost, and so did my grandchildrens education one of whom wanted to study in Europe, when the winners withdrew from the Erasmus scheme.
All I’m pointing out is you are pointing the finger of blame in the wrong direction, perhaps you just have a dislike of farming in general, painting everyone with the same brush is not helpful, not all farmers voted for brexit just like not all farmers vote tory,
Kind Regards,
A non brexiteer, Plaid voting farmer
Sad to see culture war mindsets seep into Welsh public debates.
They seep into everything else. Why should this be any different?
Two things: There should have been a choice between real Milk and a Non Dairy product. Both should have been Welsh if humanly possible, or a ‘UK’ product if not.
This was my thinking too. Going to have a lot of people unable to consume dairy for whatever reason. Was probably logistically easier, but short sighted.
I try and avoid UK products where I can. Wales or overseas.
One of the few things about Tesco I like. Their “fresh”(like) produce has the county of origin if it is UK. I’ll go for Welsh, Scottish, Irish. I will ALWAYS avoid Kent (cos Brexit, UKIP and Farage) and Somerset (cos they voted for Jacob Rees Mogg – twice)
It’s a bit slapdash I know but I shall take my vengeance where I can.
.. and there I was thinking you were JRM going all covert on us !
JRM? I have never been so insulted! And I have had some doozy insults thrown at me over the years.
I have been called terrorist, troll, gay, traitor (by warmongering Blairites), extremist (by Rishi Rich), keyboard warrior, trans-lover, muslim lover, sheep s*****r, welsh b*****d, snowflake, war monger, religious fundamentalist, atheist s**m, Marxist, communist, fascist, gender traitor (for supporting feminism), antisemitic (for speakingout against Israeli genocide in the West bank). I’ve been called Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro even Trump.
But NEVER. EVER. Jacob Rees Mogg. I may never recover from this one.
Do as he does, have a lie down in any place that takes your fancy !
There is nothing to drink better than fresh Welsh Organic Milk from Welsh cows, produced and bottled within Wales.
All of Wales should be promoting Welsh produce.
Milk lovers in other countries say the same about their milk too.
All for supporting Welsh produce (even from Brexiteer farmers) so long as they are not trying to use jingoism to gain special treatment.
In Wales every day a convoy of milk tankers bring the best of the south west to the best cheese makers of the north west, we pass so often it’s ‘Nigel Mansel Davies’ all through Covid there was plenty of cheese in Lidl…If dairy farming was looking for ‘renewables’ giving up a field to grow oats and doing a farm to breakfast bowl operation is an option…after all if you can make mini nuclear reactors you can make mini cheese factories…join the A470 appreciation society…