Former Milk Marketing Board (geograph 6790053)

The Milk Marketing Board was a producer-run product marketing board, established by the Agricultural Marketing Act 1933, to control

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulati ...

production and distribution in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It functioned as buyer of last resort in the milk market in Britain, thereby guaranteeing a minimum price for milk producers. It also participated in the development of milk products, introducing

Lymeswold cheese Lymeswold cheese (1982–1992) was an English cheese variety. Although many English cheeses are named after regions, Lymeswold's name was the result of a public competition to name it; the winning name may have been derived from an English plac ...

. It was based at

Thames Ditton Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cro ...

in Surrey.

Advertising

From the 1950s onwards, there were several memorable

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it att ...

s by the Milk Marketing Board. Slogans included "full of natural goodness", "is your man getting enough?", " milk's gotta lotta bottle" (written by the advertising executive Rod Allen), and " drinka pinta milka day" designed by the advertising agency Ogilvy. In the 1980s, they ran the advert " Accrington Stanley, Who Are They?". The campaigns were largely on ITV television, but were also printed on the returnable

milk bottle Glass milk bottles are glass bottles used for milk and they are generally reusable and returnable. Milk bottles are used mainly for doorstep delivery of fresh milk by milkmen as retail store sale is available in some regions (with bottle d ...

s delivered by

milkmen Milk delivery is a delivery service dedicated to supplying milk. This service typically delivers milk in bottles or cartons directly to customers' homes. This service is performed by a milkman, milkwoman, or milk deliverer. (In contrast, a cow ...

. The Milk Marketing Board sponsored the

Milk Race The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the ...

Tour of Britain cycle race from 1958 to 1993, at thirty five years, making it the longest cycle sponsorship ever in the United Kingdom. The Milk Marketing Board also sponsored the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

from 1981 to 1986, renaming it the ''Milk Cup''.

Dissolution

The board's responsibilities effectively ended, save for residual functions, in April 1994, with deregulation of the milk market in Britain following the

Agriculture Act 1993 The Agriculture Act 1993 (c. 37) is an Act of Parliament. The Act ended the Milk Marketing Board and the ''Potato Marketing Scheme''. It then terminated the national price support arrangements for wool and potatoes and amended the Industrial Or ...

. Its former processing division,

Dairy Crest Saputo Dairy UK Limited is a holding company for Dairy Crest Limited, a British dairy products company. It was created in 2019 when the Canadian company Saputo Inc bought Dairy Crest. Dairy Crest itself was created in 1981 as a spin-off of the ...

, remains in existence as a subsidiary of the Canadian firm Saputo Inc. The Milk Marketing Board was finally dissolved in January 2002. The Scottish Milk Marketing Board was similarly dissolved in December 2003. Dairy UK is a current

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...

representing the dairy industry in the United Kingdom.

Arms

References

{{Authority control 1933 establishments in the United Kingdom 2002 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Agricultural organisations based in the United Kingdom Borough of Elmbridge Dairy farming in the United Kingdom Dairy marketing Dairy organizations Defunct companies based in Surrey Marketing boards Organisations based in Surrey Organizations established in 1933 Organizations disestablished in 2002 Science and technology in Surrey