Burton Latimer-based Alpro announces 'multi-million-pound' investment to support farms near Kettering for 100% British Oats drink
A plant-based food producer based in Burton Latimer has announced a major investment to allow its most popular oat drink to be made from 100 per cent British oats for the first time.
Danone-owned Alpro says oats used for the product will ‘mostly’ be sourced within 80 miles of Alpro’s factory and the Navara Oat Mill near Barford Bridge between Kettering and Corby.
The partnership should make the product more sustainable and reduce food miles – sites are about eight miles apart.
James Skidmore, managing director of Navara Oat Milling, said: “The rise in the use of plant-based food ingredients has certainly brought changes to the farming industry – however, this exciting new investment by Danone has opened up more opportunities for oat famers to broaden the products they produce and markets that they grow for.
"When businesses back British agriculture, famers have more options for their crops, leading to increased resilience and potential for growth.
“The investment will boost capacity and production at the Navara Mill, bringing substantial benefits to the local community both in Kettering, and further afield.”
Navara is jointly owned by Frontier Agriculture, a crop production and grain marketing company that supplies all oats processed at the plant via growers in the surrounding region, and Camgrain, a farmer-owned cooperative.
After being processed at the Navara Oat Mill the oats are taken down the road to Alpro’s factory.
The 100% British Oats drink is being produced at the Northamptonshire site after a £41 million investment in its factory in Altendiez Way which opened in 2000.
A new innovative production method sees the oat grains ground to flour then blended with water and other ingredients including fibre and vitamins B2 and D2.
Half a million litres of oat drink is sold daily in the UK sales worth more than £275m.
Until now, only one per cent of oat drink sold in the UK has been guaranteed to be from 100 per cent British oats.
Alpro says their investment will ‘significantly increase the percentage of British oats in the ever-growing oat drink market’, while giving shoppers ‘greater opportunity to buy locally sourced oat drinks’.
Some 58 million litres of the British Oat Drink – in an original and a no sugars version – are planned to be produced annually in Burton Latimer – a quarter of the site’s production of plant-based drinks.
Jon Ruberry, category director, plant-based, at Danone UK & Ireland, said: “We continue to see a big appetite amongst shoppers for healthy, plant-based products, especially for ‘flexitarian’ shoppers looking to add variety to their diets. This expansion is a key part of our ambition to bring greater choice to supermarket shelves, providing a locally sourced product and a nutritious new recipe that we think shoppers will love.”
James Mayer, president, Danone UK & Ireland, said: “Health is at the heart of everything we do, and we work to offer healthier nutrition to consumers in the most sustainable way possible.
“This significant UK investment in manufacturing from home grown oats is an exciting step forward and a great demonstration of how we’re innovating to deliver healthy and tasty food and drink sustainably.”
For more information, please visit www.danone.co.uk or www.danone.ie