Who we are
The history of ahimsa milk foundation
The Ahimsa Dairy Foundation is a not-for-profit company that was set up to provide entirely slaughter-free milk. We work in partnership with a farm in Kent called Commonwork, an educational charity, which explores local and global sustainability and with OMSco – the Organic Milk Suppliers Co-operative. The inspiration behind the Ahimsa Dairy Foundation comes from the farm at Bhaktivedanta Manor, which is run by the Hare Krishna community and remains a unique experiment into what happens when dairy cows and their offspring are allowed to live productive lives instead of being exploited and sacrificed in the name of cheap milk.
No parent would like to see their children suffer. So why should we let cows and their calves suffer to feed our children industrialised milk, when there is a much better, healthier and more compassionate alternative?
No cow, calf or bull in our herd will ever be killed and they are allowed to live out their lives in their entirety. Cows will be retired to sanctuaries when they are too old to milk and we are looking at a variety of ways of working with bulls. These range from ploughing the land to producing electricity and milling flour.
At present our girls, who all have names, produce 50,000 of litres of milk a year. We distribute to the door in North West London and parts of Hertfordshire. However, we have drop-off points in other areas of London and the South-East and have plans to distribute nationally in the future.
Our mission is to make slaughter-free milk a reality and establish sustainable dairy farms in Britain, which give people a real ethical choice.
Our partners
The Lotus Trust
Ahimsa are a part of the Lotus Trust, an educational, relief and development agency.
It was established in 2005 as an International charity working in the UK and overseas to alleviate poverty, improve the environment and support sustainable living.
As a former member of BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development) and with its affiliations with several NGOs in India and Africa, The Lotus Trust provides support and initiates programmes based on sustainable livelihoods, and self reliance through community participation. It seeks to better equip those in voluntary and community sectors by providing training programmes, vocational guidance, counselling and personal development.
It is open to people from all beliefs and none, but is inspired by concepts of non-violence and compassion as expressed in Hindu philosophy.
Commonwork Organic Farm
Commonwork is a environmental study centre and an organic dairy farm near Sevenoaks in Kent. It has a well established educational programme which explores local and global sustainability. The thrust of its work is towards a just and sustainable world. It has many parallels with The Lotus Trust and on that basis agreed to run a pilot.
Commonwork’s vision is of a fairer world, in which people collaborate with each other and with nature everywhere, recognising that all are interconnected.
It works towards this vision in two main ways:
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Organic Milk Suppliers Cooperative (OMSCo)
OMSCo was formed in the West of England in 1994 when five like-minded organic dairy farmers joined forces to market their organic milk. OMSCo is the largest supplier of organic milk in the UK with 500 organic dairies as members. Through our relationship with them, we were introduced to Commomwork.