A DEADLINE for European grant funding has been extended for an Okehampton farmers' co-operative which was forced to put a £2-million expansion project on hold because of the foot and mouth outbreak.
Peninsula Milk, which is based at the Exeter Road Industrial Estate, is celebrating the news that it has until the end of June to complete the project instead of the original December 31 deadline.
'We were eligible for a grant if we spent up to £2-million by the end of December, but we had to put the work on hold because of foot and mouth,' said manager director Nick Bateman.
'We have been trying for some time to get an extension on that date and we had the news this week that our request had been granted.'
Funds under the European 5B programme will pay for a percentage of the expansion project and are seen as even more vital considering the rough year the agricultural industry has had.
'Foot and mouth had such an impact on the business everything had to stop but now we can restart,' added Mr Bateman.
'With a larger capacity we can source more milk from local farmers but what we also want to do is educate people because a phenomenal amount of milk that is drunk in the South West still comes from outside the region.'
Peninsula started up with 27 farmers and has now grown to more than a hundred. Milk is collected off farms from Truro to East Devon and the majority brought to the factory to be processed. Some is also delivered to Taw Valley Creamery at North Tawton and Ambrosia at Lifton.
The firm employs 60 people and processes 7,000 litres of milk a day. Peninsula Milk's bottled milks and creams can be seen in stores as far afield as Bristol and Southampton and its customers include Plymco, Ginsters, Spar and Waitrose.
Mr Bateman said the company lost around 10 per cent of its milk production due to foot and mouth and for a time the future looked very uncertain
'We have had to be very careful through this whole situation and now it looks as if things are going to get better in 2002,' he said.