Why Milk? Why Now?

  • Stefan Johnson/Unsplash

Milk is everywhere. It’s in our fridges, our cups of tea, our bowls of cereal. It’s so familiar as a substance that most of us don’t think twice about it - until we do.

Suddenly headlines about methane emissions, industrial additives, dairy farm closures and the health risks and benefits of milk consumption make us pause.

Milk and the challenge to ‘innocence’

There’s something about milk that makes people want to defend it. It represents home, childhood and a direct link to a strongly held imagination of a simpler time. Generations have been raised to see milk as a staple, a fundamental part of growing up, and in some cases, a human right. This cultural memory runs deep—rooted in school milk programs, marketing campaigns featuring idyllic countryside farms, and a long history of dairy farming as a way of life.

But milk today isn’t the same as it was a century ago. Industrialization has distanced consumers from dairy farms, leading to a growing disconnect between the milk in our supermarkets and the knowledge held by farmers. In recent years, milk has come under attack—from health debates around dairy vs. plant-based alternatives, to environmental concerns about methane emissions, to questions of economic survival for dairy farmers.

Some dairy farmers feel they are under siege: criticized for their environmental impact, squeezed by commercial buyers who drive down prices, and pushed aside by regulatory policies that fail to recognize the depth of expertise farmers hold. Many of these farmers come from generations of dairy producers—carrying with them a deep knowledge of animal welfare, land management, and sustainable practices. Yet, this knowledge is often dismissed in favor of top-down solutions that frame dairy farming as part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. Whilst farmers often have a deep understanding of their animals and the land, formal training prioritises technological and environmental innovation and intervention. Most dairy farmers in the UK see this as the most obvious way forwards because industrial dairying enables them to deal with some of the many difficulties they face in developing sustainable business models, facing industry pressures, and providing funding avenues for growth. Changes toward low intervention methods that allow for generations of valuable and shared knowledge to shape practice can, as a result, be seen as very risky.

  • Credit: USDA photo by Preston Keres.

Milk’s Polycrisis

Milk is not just facing one crisis - it is facing many at once.

Health and Nutrition

Milk has long been promoted as a source of calcium and essential nutrients, yet concerns over lactose intolerance, allergies, and potential links to diseases make its benefits less straightforward. Meanwhile, the rise of plant-based milks adds another layer of complexity: are they truly healthier, or just another processed product? The perception of milk as a ‘natural’ product is increasingly contested, but much of this debate overlooks how ideas about health and nutrition have been shaped by historical narratives of milk as a life-giving substance. For example, during WWII milk-aid through organisations like UNICEF provided an essential lifeline for communities facing protein and Vitamin D deficiencies as a result of the decline in agricultural production, predominantly in central and eastern Europe. In this model, dried milk powder was purchased from US dairy surplus  at a reduced cost and distributed by global-aid organisations. This model was then continued after WWII, when the eye of global aid shifted to focus on African, Asian and South American countries, in particular for communities coming out of a challenging period of colonial occupation. Research has shown how this model created dependencies on imported milk powder, and did not address the real issues relating to changes in land management and mono-cropping which meant communities struggled to access locally grown produce such as beans and legumes, also high in protein and calcium. Here an imported and highly processed version of milk - air-dried milk powder from US dairy industry surplus - was assumed by external aid agencies as a ‘natural’ antidote to malnutrition, based on a particular relationship with and history of milk. This overlooked existing food-ways, under increasing risk from other forms of industrial agriculture.

  • Milk: 151 Recipes
    Credit: The National Milk Publicity Council

Environmental Sustainability

The dairy industry is under pressure to reduce its carbon footprint, with methane reduction at the center of the debate. But while some solutions involve feeding cows additives to cut emissions, consumers are reacting negatively to the idea of chemically altering what they consider a natural product. This resistance isn’t just about food safety—it’s about heritage. Milk has long been positioned as a simple, wholesome product, and industrial interventions challenge that perception. For some, these interventions represent a break from the past, a shift toward something unfamiliar and unsettling.

  • Two milk bottles
    Credit: Debby Hudson/Unsplash

Economic Survival

Small and medium-sized dairy farms are struggling. Industrialized dairy production has changed how milk is produced, processed, and sold, favoring large-scale efficiency over traditional farming. Historically, dairy farming was a localized industry, with farmers supplying their communities directly. Today, the push for standardization and mass production has marginalized these smaller farms, even as consumer demand for ‘heritage’ or ‘local’ milk grows. There is an irony here: while marketing campaigns evoke traditional imagery—green pastures, contented cows, and farmers who know their animals—many of these small-scale farmers are being pushed out of business.

Trust and Transparency

People are increasingly interested in where their food comes from. But most milk today is a processed product, blended from multiple farms, transported long distances, and altered before it reaches supermarket shelves. In places like Nairobi, where raw milk is sold directly from farmers to consumers, trust in the producer is an essential part of the transaction. In contrast, many British consumers are disconnected from milk’s journey, leading to unease when new changes—such as methane-reducing additives—are introduced. This loss of trust is tied to a loss of heritage: the further removed milk becomes from its pastoral origins, the more complex the relationship is to trace between milk producers and consumers.

In reflecting on today’s fascination with ‘heritage milk’, we need to interrogate what that term really means. Is it a nod to a nostalgic past that never fully existed—or something more complex? While the idea of single-source milk evokes purity and traceability, history tells a layered story. Urban dairies—like those in 19th and early 20th century London—routinely mixed milk from multiple farms to meet demand. The romantic image of milk from a single, beloved cow—let’s call her Daisy—may owe much to marketing, but it’s not purely a myth. It’s more of a palimpsest: layers of memory and meaning. Way back, there was often just one Daisy, and in some parts of the world—like rural Kenya—there still is. That lived reality, persisting elsewhere, makes the idea even more alluring. Perhaps what we’re reaching for is not fantasy, but a fragment of something once more common, now rare. If ‘single-source’ milk is shorthand for artisanal integrity, should we be clearer about whether it means a single cow, a single farm, or simply a single processor? As we reconsider milk in a modern context—especially amid innovations like methane-reducing additives—it’s worth asking: are we protecting a genuine tradition, or piecing together the echoes of several?

    1. A girl buys milk from a vendor in Kenya
      Photo credit: ILRI/Brad Collis.

    2. Women Deliver the Milk in Wartime, Leeds, England, C 1942

      Mrs Ada Stone smiles for the camera whilst on her milk round, somewhere in Leeds, c 1942.

      Credit: Imperial War Museums