Two dairy farming families in Western Australia’s Margaret River region will be paid a premium to supply supermarket giant Woolworths for its new localised milk brand.
Woolworths’ new premium Farmer’s Own brand will be launched in Perth today. This follows the successful launch of the Farmer’s Own concept last year which saw farmer's from NSW’s Manning Valley signing up to a similar deal.
Under the deal, Woolworths will be sourcing 10 million litres of milk annually from the Noakes and Evans families to produce three premium milk lines: whole milk, unhomogenised milk and reduced fat hi-lo product, ABC Rural reports.
Peter Evans said that his family will receive a premium for the milk, but added that his primary motivation in supplying Woolworths was to meet local demand for a high quality product.
"The consumer is becoming much more aware of where their food is coming from," Evans told ABC Rural.
"We see that as a continuation on that theme and we're very happy to get close to the customer."
Woolworths fresh food manager, Ziggy Kwarcinski said that the new localised milk brand will encourage consumers to buy local, and that the supermarket giant has plans on expanding the Farmer’s Own product into Queensland and Victoria in the future.