Lindsay Farm co-owner Ange Brooks says it's been a hard week trying to deliver to its customers. Photo / Warren Buckland
Lindsay Farm co-owner Ange Brooks says it's been a hard week trying to deliver to its customers. Photo / Warren Buckland
Lindsay Farm is back in business but its owners say they've been "run ragged" delivering milk because the Ministry for Primary Industries has yet to approve its request to allow it to have collection depots.
Farm co-owner Ange Brooks said the past week since they restarted had been a "logisticalnightmare" and the farm's chances of survival are minimal unless MPI relaxes its approach.
MPI says it is considering the farm's request but these generally take 20 working days to process.
The family-owned raw milk supplier was signed off by MPI last week, under the Regulated Control Scheme for the sale of raw milk, to do home deliveries and collection from its Central Hawke's Bay farm.
Under MPI rules farmers can sell raw drinking milk directly to consumers either at their farm or by home delivery.
Paul Ashton, Ange Brooks and Mike Ashton, owners of Lindsay Farm are scrambling to survive under MPI regulations. Photo / Warren Buckland
Farmers, depot operators, and people transporting raw milk need to meet certain requirements to minimise risks to public health.
Brooks said the farm had been back in business for a week, after a nearly six-week hiatus when a batch of milk tested positive for campylobacter and was recalled.
The August 13 recall came with an edict that forced Lindsay Farm to stop supplying raw milk to the community until it signed up to MPI's Regulated Control Scheme for the sale of raw milk.
It's the same scheme the family had been fighting since its introduction, and it left them in a quandary.
The family decided to send in their application to sign up to the scheme on August 17.
"Under MPI rules we can't use collection points, we have to deliver directly to people's houses or get them to collect their milk from the far," Brooks said.
"It's a logistical nightmare. I've spent the last week doing deliveries and I have been run ragged.
"We have been able to deliver to only 30 per cent of our customers, which is approximately only a couple of hundred of our 1700 customer base. It's a massive drop in what we normally sell.
"We can't survive like this, it will ruin us."
Paul Ashton (left), Ange Brooks and Mike Ashton, the owners of Lindsay Farm, Waipukurau. Photo / Warren Buckland
Brooks said delivering to each household required a "phenomenal" amount of time, but they were hoping that MPI would okay their request for depots.
"Depots need to be registered, the milk pre-ordered, pre-paid for, and we have to follow strict MPI guidelines, but we are hoping MPI would okay our request," she said.
"Our customers are frustrated, I've had to leave milk on doorsteps. Some customers don't have chilly bins, I mean how MPI can think this is safer than what we had is just beyond me."
The six week non-working gap left the family in a financial crisis, nearly "crippling" them, Brooks said.
"As it is, we are scrambling to make enough to support all our three families, to keep going," she said.
"We are surviving on only 30 per cent of our income, if we don't get okayed to use depots then we are essentially not going to survive."
She said customers could help, but the solution was not viable long-term.
"The only way customers can help us is if they come to the farm in groups. There is no limit on how much they can buy," she said.
"Legally MPI can't control the consumer, only us."
MPI's New Zealand Food Safety Director Food Regulation Paul Dansted said applications for depots, like Lindsay Farm's, usually take about 20 working days to process.
"Registered dairy farmers must follow hygiene rules around bottling, storing and distributing the milk, and have their operations verified," he said.
"This is required by the Regulated Control Scheme for Sale of Raw Milk to Consumers.
"The scheme permits the sale of raw milk to consumers direct from the farm, or via home delivery. Home delivery is permitted directly from the farm or from registered raw milk for sale to consumer depots."
