Waitrose has agreed to stock locally produced milk at its new supermarket in Okehampton — and the firm which worked hard to make it happen is hoping shoppers will support the message: 'Local food for local people'.

Milk, cream and clotted cream from farmers' co-operative Peninsula Milk of Okehampton will be on the shelves alongside products from Waitrose's own select suppliers.

The supermarket, due to open on March 7, will also be stocking three types of cheese from Curworthy Cheese in Jacobstowe.

Managing director of Peninsula Milk, Geoff Lawrence, said the company had managed to persuade Waitrose that local people wanted to buy local milk.

'Waitrose will be bringing in milk supplies from Oxfordshire, but to us that does not make sense in an area that produces as much milk as we do,' he said.

'The supermarket has given us a chance and we want to prove that we were right. We believe in local people and hope they will support us by buying our milk.'

Mr Lawrence said Waitrose was not only supporting the local farmers but also affiliated industries by stocking local produce.

Peninsula was formed by 27 farmers six years ago when the Milk Marketing Board broke up.

As well as selling milk to companies such as Ambrosia, Unigate and Taw Valley Creamery in North Tawton, the company now has its own processing plant at its factory on the Exeter Road Industrial Estate.

The number of farmers involved has grown to 110 and the company employs 60, a figure it hopes to double within a year.

Peninsula also plans to expand the factory and quadruple the amount of milk it processes over the next year with the help of £1.3-million funding from the European 5B programme.

Chairman of the company, Sandy Loud, said Peninsula was all about farmers helping themselves.

'We have actually got off our backsides and done something rather than whingeing to the Government for more help,' she said.

'If milk is exported away from the region to be processed, the jobs are created somewhere else and the milk comes back to the consumer at double the price. This drains the economy and our aim is to keep the whole process and the jobs here in the West Country.'

Peninsula already supplies stores such as Plymco, Normans, Spar and Londis but Waitrose is the largest outlet so far.

'If we can get into Waitrose in Okehampton and make a success then we hope we can supply to other Waitrose stores planned for Devon and Cornwall,' said Mrs Loud.

Public relations officer for Waitrose, Carol Hubbard, said milk was usually supplied to stores from Oxfordshire but sourcing local produce for individual stores around the country was something that had come about quite recently.

'We have quite a lot of cheeses from around the country which are just sold in local stores and it is something we are trying to do more of,' she said. 'Okehampton has given us the opportunity to do that.

'We are delighted to be able to sell this milk and we hope the initiative that has been shown will be brought out by the fact that people will support local farmers.'

Rachel Stephens, of Curworthy Cheese, said she was very pleased that Waitrose had decided to stock her products.

'It would be impossible for me to supply all the Waitrose stores — I could not produce enough but this is a very good idea to help the small local suppliers,' she said.