Launching the I Love Island Milk campaign at the Garlic Festival are Justin and Georgette Birch, with their children, Lottie, six, and Austin, three. Picture by Peter Boam
THE launch of a new campaign to encourage people on the Isle of Wight to support local milk producers got the 'white’ response at the Garlic Festival.
More than 800 people signed a petition urging supermarkets to stock milk produced on the Island as part of the new I Love Island Milk campaign.
The campaign, backed by the National Farmers’ Union and Island MP Andrew Turner, was started because the Island’s dairy farmers are being paid less than the cost of producing it — a problem exacerbated by high ferry charges to transport their milk to the mainland.
Justin Birch, who is spearheading the campaign, gave out free milk tastings and chatted to festival-goers about the campaign.
Mr Birch, who owns Three Gates Farm, Shalfleet, said: "The launch could not have gone any better. The feedback was very pro-Island milk and most people said they would be happy to pay more for Island milk at the supermarket.
"People were amazed to hear supermarkets are shipping milk over from the mainland while Island milk is being taken over there."
Reporter: jonm@iwcpmail.co.uk