MORRISONS customers have raised £20 million to support farms and the countryside through its For Farmers dairy and egg ranges.

Funds from the range have been ploughed back into a range of farm schemes to improve biodiversity and further improve animal welfare, in a period when British farmers have faced financial uncertainty due to Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.

In October 2015, Morrisons was the first British retailer to launch a dairy product where part of the purchase price went directly back to farmers.

Milk For Farmers was the original product - at 10p-a-litre more than Morrisons own label standard milk - with the full difference passed on to its dairy farmers. The range now includes Cheese For Farmers, Cream For Farmers and Eggs For Farmers which similarly give customers the opportunity to pay a little more to support farmers directly.

Sophie Throup of Morrisons, said: “We are pleased to have passed on £20 million from our For Farmers range to help fund initiatives which may otherwise have suffered from under-investment.It’s great to see many customers want to pay more to support British farmers - and want to buy dairy products from cows that have been let out to graze and eggs from free range hens who can roam in enriched woodland and grassland areas.”

Morrisons is British farming’s biggest supermarket customer and buys directly from over 3,000 farmers and growers.