Why is it important to support small businesses?

Why is it important to support small businesses?

This year has had a negative impact on local businesses. Covid 19 caused a major economic shock - during this time 43% of small businesses temporarily closed due to the lockdown, which led to major financial losses for small local businesses, devastatingly leaving some into dissolvement.

Big chain supermarkets vs local

Big chain supermarkets benefitted from the pandemic as people were stocking up and buying in bulk out of panic, this led to a decline in support to locally sourced food from local businesses. We think it is extremely important to support your local businesses during these uncertain times, they are owned and operated by our neighbours. Supporting your local businesses has a positive impact on the environment, because unlike big chain companies, they have a smaller carbon footprint than larger companies and are more sustainable.

Yorkshire Dama and sustainability

At Yorkshire Dama Cheese we farm in a sustainable way, which means that we meet our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations. We don’t mass produce products, we work alongside farmers and small farm shops to source our milk and sell our cheese to help small local businesses and remain sustainable.

We source our Goats milk from Yellison Farm, who saw a decline in sales during Covid 19, and Laund Farm where we source our sheep's milk who were majorly impacted by the lockdown. The farms were faced with many challenges during the pandemic, Laund farm was on the brink of collapse, with their sheep over producing and no way of selling the milk due to little custom, Laund Farm feared having to euthanise some of their sheep as a way of controlling the overproduction of the milk, whilst owners of Yellison Farm feared for their farm, their work and earnings. 

We only make our delicious squeaky cheese with locally sourced milk from these farms. Covid 19’s effect on Yorkshire farming has been catastrophic, shopping locally helps not only small businesses, but the planet as well, small businesses make products more sustainably as we do at Yorkshire Dama Cheese, and have a much smaller carbon footprint.

Yorkshire Dama Goats Milk Cheese

How can you help?

We suggest swapping out your supermarket products, such as meats, dairy products (milks and cheeses), bread and bakery products, to one's sourced locally from local bakeries, farm shops, delicatessens etc. to support your neighbours and their small businesses during this difficult time for them, and to add more fresh, locally sourced sustainable goods to your weekly shop.

Try our handmade 'Sheep's Milk Squeaky Cheese' and our 'Goat's Milk Squeaky Cheese' today!

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