SIMON FAIRLIE follows the tortous route taken by milk on its way to the consumer, and examines some local alternatives.

The last ten days of July 2012 came as a welcome surprise to anyone who had begun to despair at the apathy of British farmers. Faced with cuts of two pence per litre in the price of milk, dairy farmers picketed supermarkets by day and blockaded processors by night. After a week of repeated actions,
most of the cuts were withdrawn and the processing industry agreed to a voluntary code of conduct. Read more