private industry organic dairy products founder rachel and gareth rowlands headquarters glanyrafon aberystwyth wales area served united kingdom products yogurt milk rice pudding cream cr me fraiche owner bsa international sa number of employees 121 parent lactalis website rachelsorganic.co.uk rachel s is an organic dairy products company based in aberystwyth wales . founded by local farmers but now a subsidiary of french company lactalis it was united kingdom s first certified organic dairy . 1 contents 1 background 2 history 3 present 3.1 recycling 3.2 awards 4 products 5 references 6 external links background edit the williams family took over brynllys farm in ceredigion west wales in 1942 and started developing a herd of guernsey cows . dinah williams is the daughter of abel jones professor of agriculture at aberystwyth university and his wife bessie brown mbe the university s first dairy instructress and organiser of the women s land army in wales during world war i. after world war ii dinah often appeared with lady eve balfour trying to dissuade farmers from using artificial fertilisers and pesticides leading to the formation of soil association . 1 as a result in 1952 brynllys became one of the earliest members of the soil association and established the farm as the first certified organic dairy farm . 1 after the death of her husband in 1966 williams handed over the farm to her middle daughter rachel and son in law gareth rowlands . 1 at this time they were supplying premium organic milk to the milk marketing board . in the mid 1980s after a scriptwriter for bbc radio 4 visited brynllys it inspired a storyline in the archers when pat and tony archer went organic at bridge farm . in 2009 teleri bevan published a book they dared to make a difference detailing the lives of the three family generations at brynllys . 2 history edit the company was born out of the need for farming diversification . when heavy snow hit aberystwyth in 1982 preventing milk tankers from reaching the isolated farm the rowlands were forced to find other uses for their milk . using an old butter churn they made cream and butter by hand . after the snow cleared the rowlands discovered they had inadvertently created a market for their dairy goods and they were spurred on to extend their range of products . rachel began researching old recipes including yogurt and the rachel s dairy brand was born as a company in 1984 . the home for the companies production stayed on brynllys farm but between 1985 and 1990 the company experienced considerable growth which resulted in a purpose built dairy being built at glanyrafon aberystwyth . present edit in 1999 the company was bought for 1.5 m in an agreed takeover by united states dairy company horizon organic their only presence in the uk . 1 in 2004 horizon was bought by dean foods based in texas the largest dairy distributor in the usa . the company dropped the organic from its name in 2009 3 becoming simply rachel s. however all products currently remain organic and include milk butter rice pudding cream cr me fraiche and a variety of yogurts . on the 28 july 2010 it was confirmed that dean foods as part of their restructuring programme had agreed to sell a package of european dairy products companies including rachel s to bsa international of belgium 4 the holding company for france based lactalis groupe which itself will take operational control of rachel s. 5 the company has since moved production of all of its rice based desserts to france . 6 in may 2012 rachel s was moved into lactalis nestl chilled dairy lncd which is a joint venture with nestl . lactalis owns 60 % of lncd and nestl 40 % . 7 hence rachel s is now the subject of a boycott call by baby milk action . 8 recycling edit to save natural resources and increase recycling in 2007 the company launched a 2 layer yogurt pot . the inner sleeve was a thinner mould using polystyrene the outer sleeve made from recycled cardboard and the over cap made of polypropylene . citation needed in 2009 the inner sleeve was changed to be made from 60 % recycled polyethylene terephthalate which is in itself fully recyclable . this pot was first introduced on 450g and 150g yogurts and is now rolling out across the range . awards edit rachel s has won numerous awards for the quality of its products and its innovation including great taste awards 9 and wales the true taste awards . 10 in 2007 rachel s was recognised as one of britain s most environmentally friendly brands in a yougov poll conducted by marketing week 11 and in 2009 was given coolbrand status in the uk list of superbrands . 12 in july 2010 rachel s received eight awards in the dairy produce category at the royal welsh show . 13 rachel s received a gold award at wales the true taste food & drink awards 2010 for their wholemilk gooseberry yogurt . 14 products edit yogurt milk rice pudding produced in france 6 cream cr me fraiche references edit a b c d e the soil association . the times . london . 2009 09 25 . retrieved 2010 05 22 . teleri bevan 2009 07 01 . they dared to make a difference . fba publications . isbn 1 901862 69 0 . adams stephen 2009 04 20 . the telegraph . the daily telegraph . london . retrieved 2010 05 22 . crunch talks for 140 staff as factory is sold . cambrian news . july 28 2010 . retrieved july 28 2010 . french company buys dairy company rachel s . bbc news . 2010 07 28 . retrieved 28 july 2010 . a b http www.walesonline.co.uk business in wales business news 2012 01 04 wales based yoghurt producer rachel s dairy writes off 1m after supermarket reduces its products 91466 30056002 food and drink federation . baby milk action . the great taste awards . finefoodworld.co.uk . retrieved 2010 05 30 . wales the true taste . truetaste.tv . retrieved 2010 05 30 . dead link brands show true colours . marketing week . retrieved 2010 05 30 . coolbrand . superbrands.uk.com . retrieved 2010 05 30 . dairy produce catalogue pdf . retrieved 2010 08 10 . wales the true taste food & drink award winners 2010 11 pdf . external links edit rachel s organics coordinates 52 24 9.84 n 4 2 35.77 w 52.4027333 n 4.0432694 w 52.4027333 ; 4.0432694 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rachel % 27s organic & oldid 723457589 categories organic foodfood and drink companies of walesorganisations based in aberystwythdairy products companies of the united kingdombrand name yogurtscompanies based in ceredigionhidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from october 2010all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2015coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity 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