How a Scottish farm where Rabbie Burns ploughed the fields is taking on ‘Big Dairy’

An Ayrshire farm with historic links to Scotland's national bard is looking to break Big Dairy’s stranglehold on the sector after launching a six-figure fundraise to build a state-of-the-art milking facility.

The money will allow Mossgiel Farm in Mauchline, East Ayrshire, where the famous Scots poet and lyricist Robert Burns ploughed the fields and wrote many of his most famous verses, to double its production capacity. A £300,000 crowdfunding campaign is a key component of a broader £900,000 investment initiative that farm owner Bryce Cunningham aims to secure through private investors and financial institutions.

He said: “We’re not afraid to challenge societal norms, just like Rabbie himself. Mossgiel is the antidote to a broken system - industrial dairy is giving real milk a bad name and work is needed to repair it. For far too long, small farmers have been driven out of business as Big Dairy squeezes margins, drives down prices, and devalues milk through over processing and commoditisation.

Bryce Cunningham, owner of Mossgiel Farm in East Ayrshire. Picture: Colin Mearns

“I can’t sit idly by and let an industry I love, that has been our family’s livelihood for generations, be destroyed. The conditions created by Big Dairy and some supermarkets have a negative impact on the environment and cows themselves. There’s a better way, a way that prioritises sustainability, animal welfare, and transparency over profit, and Scottish dairy can be at the sharp end of it.”

Animal welfare and environmental sustainability are said to be at the heart of the farm’s operations. Typically calves are separated from their mother shortly after birth, but Mossgiel allows cows to raise their calves naturally on its farm. Meanwhile, the business has eliminated single-use plastics across the supply chain, bringing glass bottles back into fashion while also working with other farmers in a co-operative.

The fully-organic farm is doing business with artisan cafes and grocery shops across the west of Scotland and beyond, as well as East Ayrshire schools.

While he grew up on the farm, Cunningham originally went down another path, choosing a career as an engineer for Mercedes-Benz. However, he returned home nine years ago following his dad’s death from cancer.

Within his first year at the helm, with the going rate for milk just 9.6p per litre, the firm lost more than £100,000. However, Cunningham has built the farm back from the ground up, transforming it into a business with £2 million turnover, achieving 30 per cent year-over-year growth. It now delivers some 1.5 million litres of organic milk annually.

The crowdfunder will enable the farm to double its production capacity with a zero-waste dairy facility, grow into the London market - where there is said to be increasing unmet appetite for the sustainable dairy’s products - and achieve accreditation that helps local and regional food and drink producers supply their products to national and regional buyers.

Cunningham added: “The appetite is there - our success shows that. Our products are in high demand, but our capacity is limited. We want to meet the moment and give people the ethical, organic milk they are crying out for.”

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