Yeo Valley and the commercial case for organic
Yeo Valley Farms has grown from a simple family farm to become the biggest seller of natural yoghurt in the UK, establishing itself as a household name and holding its own among multinational food giants such as Danone and Muller. Its secret? Combining great-tasting food with a clear commitment to its principles: organic produce and supporting British family farms.
Purpose visited the Yeo Valley Farms HQ in the beautiful surrounds of Blagdon, Somerset, to find out what all the fuss is about. After a delicious organic breakfast in the staff canteen, we joined Yeo Valley Farms owner Tim Mead in his office overlooking Chew Lake to talk about milk, yoghurt, and how sticking to your values can supercharge your business.
The commercial case for organic
Yeo Valley embraced organic farming in the 1990s, but this was really just a reversion to the same methods that the Mead family has used as farmers in Somerset for the last 500 years. For Tim, keeping it organic simply makes long-term commercial sense.
“As a farmer, it works for me,” he says. “In the long-term, we think rotating the crops is cheaper. We have 1500 acres, and we still use the same crop rotation as we did in 1955 when we had 150 acres. And our input costs are going down as the organic sector grows.”
Tim is adamant that organic farming can feed the world, if the farming industry can bring itself to take a wider view and avoid the false economy of nitrate-based agriculture.
“Food provides the energy to fuel the human race,” he explains. “As I see it, the world is made up of energy, and energy itself can’t be destroyed. So why waste energy making nitrates for fertiliser? It makes more sense to use natural sources of energy properly.”
At Yeo Valley, this approach extends beyond organic farming. The farm’s dairies are powered by green electricity (including energy from onsite solar panels), its offices are heated with home-grown elephant grass, and 50 acres of its farms are managed purely as a habitat for wildlife, thus maintaining local biodiversity.
Yeo Valley is pursuing a number of objectives as a business, but for Tim, one big goal stands out.
“My personal mission is to see a billion litres of organic milk in the country, up from the 450 million litres produced currently,” he says. “That would be 10% of all English milk.”
Yoghurt, not hairshirt
Values are important at Yeo Valley, but not at the expense of having fun.
“Our values are simple,” says Tim. “We’re British: we support British family farms, pay UK taxes and contribute towards better infrastructure in the UK. We’re real. We invite 20,000 people to our headquarters each year to come see for themselves what we’re all about. And — very important — we’re fun! The organic movement can get a bit ‘hairshirt’ at times. That’s why we keep our branding fun and accessible, and hold events like our ValleyFest festival each year. We’re about good, tasty food — it’s not about being ‘worthy’. It’s really important to get that balance right.”
Yeo Valley is currently going through a transition of sorts. Recent decades have seen tremendous growth, directed largely by Tim’s entrepreneurial vision. Growth brings new challenges. Today, the business is looking at how it can institute its values across a more mature organisational culture (pardon the pun).
“In the past, we would just do what we thought was right at the time,” says Tim. “The motto was, ‘don’t overthink it’. I would know within 90 seconds whether I wanted to hire someone. We used to be very blunt in our dealings — we are farmers after all!”
As the business matures, Tim faces the common dilemma of how to plan for the future while keeping the brand’s core values intact.
“The challenge now is empowering people to run the business,” he continues, “which can be harder for me than it is for them!”
This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2017 print issue of Purpose. For more on creative leadership, problem solving and purposeful business, please visit thehouse.co.uk or get in touch at hello@thehouse.co.uk.
