Rachel's is an organic

dairy products Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are Food product, food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, dairy goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include commo ...

company based in

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Founded by local farmers but now a subsidiary of French company

Lactalis Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the se ...

, it was 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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's first

certified organic Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products, in the European Union more commonly known as ecological or biological products.Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/ ...

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

Background

The Williams family took over Brynllys farm in

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

, West Wales, in 1942, and started developing a

herd A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called ''herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals. The term ''herd'' is ...

of Guernsey cows. Dinah Williams was the daughter of Abel Jones, Professor of Agriculture at

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

, and his wife Bessie Brown

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, the university’s first dairy instructor and organiser of the

Women's Land Army The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the W ...

in Wales during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Dinah often appeared with

Lady Eve Balfour Lady Evelyn Barbara Balfour, (16 July 1898 – 16 January 1990) was a British farmer, educator, organic farming pioneer, and a founding figure in the organic movement. She was one of the first women to study agriculture at an English university ...

, trying to dissuade farmers from using artificial

fertiliser A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

s and

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

s, leading to the formation of the

Soil Association The Soil Association is a British registered charity. The organisation activities include campaigning – against intensive farming, for local purchasing and public education on nutrition – and certification of organic foods. It was establ ...

. As a result, in 1952 Brynllys became one of the earliest members of the Soil Association, and established the farm as the first certified organic dairy farm. After the death of her husband in 1966, Williams handed over the farm to her middle daughter Rachel and son-in-law Gareth Rowlands. At this time they were supplying premium

organic milk Organic milk refers to a number of milk products from livestock raised according to organic farming methods. In most jurisdictions, use of the term "organic" or equivalents like "bio" or "eco", on any product is regulated by food authorities. In ...

to the

Milk Marketing Board The Milk Marketing Board was a producer-run product marketing board, established by the Agricultural Marketing Act 1933, to control milk production and distribution in the United Kingdom. It functioned as buyer of last resort in the milk market in ...

. In the mid-1980s, after a scriptwriter for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

visited Brynllys, it inspired a storyline in ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...

'' when Pat and Tony Archer “went organic” at Bridge Farm. In 2009, Teleri Bevan published a book ''They Dared to Make a Difference,'' detailing the lives of the three family generations at Brynllys.

History

The company was born out of the need for farming diversification. When heavy

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

hit Aberystwyth in 1982, preventing milk tankers from reaching the isolated farm, the Rowlands were forced to find other uses for their milk. Using an old

butter churn A butter churn is a device used to convert cream into butter. This is done through a mechanical process, frequently via a pole inserted through the lid of the churn, or via a crank used to turn a rotating device inside the churn. Etymology The ...

, they made

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

and

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

by hand. After the snow cleared, the Rowlands discovered they had inadvertently created a market for their dairy goods and they were spurred on to extend their range of products. Rachel began researching old recipes, including

yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in t ...

, and the Rachel’s Dairy brand was born as a company in 1984. The home for the company’s production stayed on Brynllys farm, but between 1985 and 1990 the company experienced considerable growth, which resulted in a purpose-built dairy being built at Glanyrafon, Aberystwyth.

Present

In 1999, the company was bought for £1.5M in an agreed takeover by

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

dairy company

Horizon Organic Horizon Organic is an American company, founded in 1991, that produces organic milk and other organic food products. Horizon Organic is the largest supplier of organic milk in North America. Its products are sold in supermarkets and grocery stores. ...

, their only presence in the UK. In 2004, Horizon was bought by

Dean Foods Dean Foods was an American food and beverage company and the largest dairy company in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company maintained plants and distributors in the United States. Dean Foods had 66 manufacturing faciliti ...

based in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, the largest dairy distributor in the USA. The company dropped the “organic” from its name in 2009 becoming simply Rachel’s. However, all products remained organic and include milk, butter, rice pudding, cream, crème fraiche and a variety of yogurts. In 2019 the name returned to Rachel's Organic. On the 28 July 2010, it was confirmed that Dean Foods as part of their restructuring programme had agreed to sell a package of European dairy products companies including Rachel's to BSA International of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, the holding company for France-based Lactalis Groupe, which itself will take operational control of Rachel's. The company has since moved production of all of its rice-based desserts to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In May 2012, Rachel's was moved into Lactalis Nestlé Chilled Dairy (LNCD), which is a joint venture with Nestlé. Lactalis owns 60% of LNCD and Nestlé 40%. Hence Rachel's was included in a boycott related to baby milk products by the Lactalis Nestlé from 2012 onwards.

Awards

Rachel’s has won numerous awards for the quality of its products and its innovation including Great Taste awards, and Wales the True Taste awards. In 2007 Rachel’s was recognised as one of Britain’s most environmentally friendly brands in a

YouGov YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...

poll conducted by

Marketing Week ''Marketing Week'' is a website focused on the marketing industry, based in London, that grew out of what was a weekly, and latterly monthly, print magazine. History and profile ''Marketing Week'' was launched in March 1978. Its co-founders were ...

, and in 2009 was given Coolbrand status in the UK list of Superbrands. In July 2010, Rachel's received eight awards in the Dairy Produce Category at the

Royal Welsh Show The Royal Welsh Show ( cy, Sioe Frenhinol Cymru) is organised by the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, which was formed in 1904. It takes place in July of each year, at Llanelwedd, near Builth Wells, in Powys, Mid Wales. The first show was hel ...

. Rachel's received a Gold award at Wales the True Taste Food & Drink Awards 2010, for their Wholemilk Gooseberry Yogurt.

Products

Yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in t ...

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 digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

Rice pudding Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and other ingredients such as cinnamon, vanilla and raisins. Variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener such ...

- produced in France *

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

* Crème fraiche

References

External links

Rachel's Organics
{{coord, 52, 24, 9.84, N, 4, 2, 35.77, W, region:GB, display=title Organic farming organizations Food and drink companies of Wales Organisations based in Aberystwyth Dairy products companies of the United Kingdom Brand name yogurts Companies based in Ceredigion Lactalis