Arla Aylesbury is the largest dairy in the UK; at opening it was the world's biggest dairy,[1] processing over 1.75 billion pints (1 billion litres) of milk per year, around 10% of the milk in the UK.
The first investment proposal for the dairy came in November 2009. Planning permission was submitted in September 2011. Construction started in February 2012, by Caddick Construction.[2]
The plant was officially opened on 28 May 2014, with Åke Hantoft, the Chairman of Arla Foods, in attendance.[3]
Around 30 protesters from Animal Rebellion on 31 August 2021 visited the plant. Eight protestors were arrested, and appeared at High Wycombe magistrates on 21 July 2022, but were acquitted, as no provable damage had taken place.[7]
Production
It can process up to 420,000 pints (240,000 litres) of milk per hour. Arla Foods UK processes 6.1 billion pints (3.5 billion of litres) of milk per year, turning over £2.2bn. It has eight processing lines, with eight bottle sizes. Around 900 farmers supply milk to the site; Arla UK represents around 2,800 British dairy farmers.
Robots in October 2014
It produces about five bottles per second and makes around 400 deliveries from the site each day. In despatch, all the milk is transported by robots - it is the only dairy in the UK like this, working with RFID technology. Without robots, it would require around 300 workers in despatch. Around 30% of UK dairy farms have robotic systems.
Arla in the UK makes around 43% of Britain's butter.
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