Rachel Rowlands

Co-founder of one of the UK's leading organic food companies

Place of Birth:

Borth, Ceredigion

Biography:

For Rachel Rowlands and her family, the big snows of 1982 proved to be a life-changing event.

Across Mid Wales and other parts of the country, the snowstorms brought everyday life to a standstill. The extreme weather conditions meant that milk from the Rowlands' organic farm at Bronllys in Borth could not be collected for ten days.

One choice would have been to throw away the unused gallons from their herd of Guernsey cows - but Rachel Rowlands had other ideas.

She retrieved her grandmother's old dairy equipment and decided to make pots of cream which she then sold to local hotels and shops.

The snows eventually cleared but the business idea sown during the big freeze did not go away and Rachel continued to make cream as a sideline to the family's main farming activities.

Two years later, she diversified again and stared producing youghurt using the skimmed milk left over from making cream.

The Brynllys farm where the business developed had been in Rachel's family for years. Her grandmother, Elizabeth Jones, was a dedicated follower of organic methods and in 1952, Brynllys became the first certified organic farm in the UK.

When Rachel and her husband Gareth took over the farm in 1966, they continued to farm organically.

As the "Rachel's Dairy" brand went from strength to strength, the main production base was moved from Brynllys to a new state-of-the-art dairy on the Glanyrafon Industrial Estate in Aberystwyth.

Further expansion saw Rachel's Dairy products being sold not only locally but in major supermarket chains across the UK as well as places like The Ritz Hotel and Eurostar. The range of products also grew to include not only cream and yoghurt but also milk, creme fraiche and butter.

In 1999, the USA's leading organic mile company Horizon took over "Rachel's Dairy" in a multi-million pound deal. They kept the name and retained Rachel and her husband Gareth as consultants.

In 2003, Horizon announced a £3m expansion which would see the Aberystwyth workforce increase from 95 to 150 by 2006.

In recognition of her services to agriculture, Rachel was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Honours List in 1997. She is also the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed and was appointed the first True Taste Food Ambassador for Wales by the Welsh Development Agency in November 2002.

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If you want to read more about the big snows of 1982, visit our Remember Wales section.

your comments

J
thanks to rachels dairy i have to do a science coursework on the whole of the dairy set up from start to finish !!!!!!!!!!
Thu Dec 11 10:14:55 2008

Tom and Maruchy Davies
Dear Rachel, have not been back home for many years only a brief visit last year to bury my mother in Ross-on Wye, we are now living in France base of the Alps Tamara lives nearby with 3 kids Tomas lives in Holland 4 kids Mark is in Denmark and Nick in the south of France, love to hear from you, always Tom.
Mon Mar 10 13:09:54 2008

Martin o Dre Taliesin
Defnyddiol iawn oedd y wefan hon. Dwi arwain taith Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd yn y cylch ddydd Sadwrn nesaf. Handi iawn cael cystal ffynhonnell o wybodaeth.Translation - This page was very useful. I am leading the Edward Llwys Society in the area next Saturday. Very handy to have a source of information.
Tue Feb 19 11:34:41 2008

Simon Gordon, Harrogate
I ate the Fat Free natural yoghurt for many years.I am deeply upset that it has been discontinued. The replacement has no USP.Bring back the Fat Free - please!
Mon Apr 23 09:26:08 2007

Maureen Woolley, Bucks
Having bought Rachel's fat-free natural yoghurt weekly since it appeared & having gone out of my way to search for it if necessary, I am extremely annoyed to be told that,as a result of re-packaging, this fat-free yogurt is no longer available & has been replaced by a low-fat version.
Mon Mar 12 11:49:24 2007

evans borth
I love the original rice puddings is there any way that you could do them in a bigger pot?
Thu Jul 20 09:24:39 2006

Gwyneth Gill from Ross on Wye
I love your yoghurts, especially the low fat ones, rhubarb being marvellous, but like the comment above I am having difficulty in getting the yoghurts now that our Safeway has become Morrison's. This weekend I was lucky and got 3 large pots but in a week we used to get through about 10 to 12. I also saw other varieties with coconut in when on holiday in Pembroke but here we never have any varieties except vanilla and rhubarb. Reluctantly and unfortunately I am now hunting for an alternative to your product as I just cannot get them.
Mon Nov 7 12:42:39 2005

Morgan from Rochester, Kent ex Aber
I love your yoghurts I used to buy them in supermarkets here but they seem not to sell them here any more, why?
Fri Jul 29 18:52:59 2005

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