Ivy’s Reserve Salted Farmhouse Butter is produced from whey cream and is based on a family recipe from over 100 years ago. The product is made at a new facility that enables a longer shelf life, allowing for shipment to export markets.
The new product is the UK’s first carbon neutral butter and joins Ivy’s Reserve Cheddar – the first ever carbon-neutral cheddar - in Wyke’s premium range of products.
Wyke’s carbon neutrality claim has been achieved by addressing the firm’s scope 1 and 2 emissions and working with farmers to reduce scope 3 emissions. The process has been audited to PAS 2060 and analyzed by the Carbon Trust. Wyke also produces all of its electrical energy and gas through renewable sources and generates its own offsets.
Wyke Farms MD Rich Clothier told DairyReporter in 2022: “This has been a 12-year journey for us. We started our 100% green strategy in 2010, when we made a commitment to energy independence and generating all of our gas and electric from renewables. Since then, we have invested in our knowledge base across this business and on farm, driving environmental improvement year on year.”
The release of Ivy’s Reserve Salted Farmhouse Butter is part of the Somerset-based company’s five-year growth plan, which involves increasing volume sustainably while targeting specific regions worldwide.
“The world butter market is worth nearly $20bn and is predicted to grow by 50% by 2027,” said Clothier.
“Increasingly, people across the world are looking for premium dairy products with provenance and history - butter is no exception and Ivy’s Reserve salted farmhouse butter is a best-in-class product in terms of quality and sustainability, and it articulates our unique set of values that fit with this trend. We continue to make changes at industry level as we push for more net positive improvements.”
Wyke’s new butter dairy facility is powered by renewable gas and electricity generated on site and is also water efficient. The development is hoped to strengthen the company’s production capabilities as the company is experiencing an increase in export demand, with sales to the EU and the rest of the world up 30%. At the end of 2022, the company received support from UK Export Finance and Barclays in the shape of a £30m general export facility to help finance the company's cheddar stock.
In the UK, Ivy’s Reserve Cheddar is available in Tesco stores nationwide and Wyke Farms cheddar and butter are available in selected Lidl, Morrisons and Southwest ASDA and Tesco stores as well as 167 export markets.
