Gloucestershire County Council was forced to apologise for “causing offence” by urging residents to consider alternatives to dairy milk.
The council’s Swaps in Seconds campaign aimed to offer easy solutions for people wanting to be more environmentally friendly, but it left farmers outraged.
Local farmer Jacob James from Whole Moo World said the message was “frustrating” and pointed out that the UK dairy industry actually produced less carbon than the global average.
He told GB News: “I do respect that the council has a positive intent in offering this guidance, but it is frustrating in farming that the guidance has been given to people based on evidence that fails to take into consideration any context.
“When all these things are taken into consideration, the actual carbon impact for UK dairy farms comes down to about one kilo per litre. That is the same as oat milk, which is said at 0.9.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also slammed the council for being “global warming lunatics”, spouting “an utter load of complete nonsense”.
He said: “I was offered oat milk or skimmed milk, and I didn’t want to cause a scene, but I just want bloomin’ cow’s milk. What is wrong with this? God help us is all I can say.”
A Gloucestershire County Council spokesperson said: “Gloucestershire has an amazing farming community who go beyond the call of duty to produce local milk that people across the county enjoy.
“We encourage everyone to go out and support their local farmers however people buy their milk and other local food. We didn’t mean to cause offence or to suggest people shouldn’t support their local farmers.”
Councillor David Gray added: “Dairy is one of the big producers of methane, so our suggestion is every so often, instead of having milk with your coffee, you have oat milk or soy, and that way make a small difference in the overall impact of your lifestyle on the environment.
“I understand the point about local dairy farmers, and I’m very supportive of the local dairy farmers in terms of encouraging people to buy their milk locally and look for the labelling. We are not saying don’t touch milk. The campaign is all about small changes.”