Gloucestershire farmers angered by council's oat milk campaign

Gloucestershire County Council has launched a campaign, urging people to drink oat or almond milk instead of cow’s milk, much to the annoyance of local farmers. It is part of the Swaps in Seconds campaign which the Gloucestershire County Council claim can help reduce people’s carbon footprints,

This initiative urges residents to try and make small changes which could culminate in massive change, with swapping milk being one of many actions being recommended. Other suggestions include buying more second hand items, turning electrical devices in your home off or on standby, switching to black coffee or tea or reducing sugar.

This campaign has sparked much anger amongst farmers. Jacob James, from Whole Moo World which supplies vending machines with milk, told the BBC: "It is extremely frustrating because it seems that everywhere you look there's farmers being demonised.

A university of Oxford study concluded that producing a glass of dairy milk causes almost three times the greenhouse gas emissions of any non-dairy milks.

James said: “Unfortunately emissions are a given no matter what route we go down, and we should be looking at getting the best bang for our buck in terms of the nutrients produced from those emissions.”

This campaign comes as farmers around the country have voiced their anger about the changes in inheritance tax that are affecting them. Protests have taken place nationwide in response to Rachel Reeves' proposed changes to inheritance tax.