Hafod cheddar farmer calls the theft of 22 tons of cheese ‘a wake-up call’

The farmer of an award-winning Welsh cheddar has called the theft of 22.5 tonnes of cheese a “wake-up call” for customers.

The theft involved 2.5 tonnes of Hafod cheddar wrapped in cloth, sourced from Lampeter’s Holden Farm Dairy.

Patrick Holden, owner of Holden Farm, Wales’ longest certified organic dairy farm, said he found out 10 days ago: “Good Lord, we never thought our cheese would be the subject of such a raid.

“It’s a huge shock, but also a wake-up call: how many of us think deeply about where our food comes from and how it is produced?

“We need to be more loyal in supporting sustainable farmers, who are less likely to make money than those who produce in an environmentally damaging way.

“The thieves thought Welsh organic cheddar was a high value cheese, but we don’t make any money from it producing it the way we do; it just adds the actual cost.

“I think more of us need to know the story behind our food.

“There are hidden costs associated with cheap food that we have forgotten, such as the costs to our health, our water and the environment.

“What we do to nature, we do to ourselves.”

The Metropolitan Police are currently investigating the scam, but no arrests have yet been made.

Patrick described first being contacted by what he thought was an agent from a French supermarket several months ago, asking for 22.5 tons of Hafod cheddar.

He said: “We can’t possibly supply that much. We produce less than 30 tons per year, but we produce 2.5 tons, which they said would make a difference to other cheddar producers.

“We sent our cheese to Neal’s Yard, who paid us and sent the cheese to a warehouse on the outskirts of London, where it would then be collected.

“This was a break in the distribution chain that meant they could no longer be followed up.

‘Then I received a concerned phone call from David Lockwood, co-owner of Neal’s Yard Dairy, saying there had been a terrible robbery and your cheese had been stolen!

“It shows how smart the thieves were.

“They couldn’t just steal it and sell it in Britain; people would find it.

“If it’s true that it went to the Middle East or Russia, people wouldn’t be as familiar with our products.

“We will be fine, our supplies are tight and after the publicity there may be increased demand.”

He uses this as an opportunity to encourage pride in the Welsh food industry: “The people who buy our cheese know the story behind it, from our small family farm of 100 cows, which we feed almost exclusively with what we grow – we have No fertilizer or chemicals used for 50 years.

“We have reason to be proud of the unique farming environment and food culture we have in Wales.

“We have to appreciate it more than we already have.”