LOCHEM, NETHERLANDS — ForFarmers UK announced on Feb. 19 that it plans to close its feed mill site in Blandford, U.K., as parts of a plan to optimize its supply chain.

The feed volume from the Blandford site will be moved to ForFarmers’ newly constructed mill in Exeter and its upgraded facility in Portbury. The closure will take place in the second quarter and affects 30 employees.

In 2017, ForFarmers said it planned to rationalize its supply chain in terms of modernizing existing mills and in its footprint of site locations. It is part of a £5 million reduction plan.

The Blandford site is one of the older ForFarmers locations in the U.K. and would require significant modifications to modernize it and improve its efficiency, ForFarmers said.

The current Blandford volume includes conventional (compound) feed and organic feed. The plan is to relocate the production of conventional feed volume to the Exeter mill and that of organic feed to Portbury, which recently has been equipped with additional raw material storage bins to support the production of organic feed.

A dedicated project team will help ensure a seamless transfer, the company said. Along with the relocation, ForFarmers UK said it is enhancing its delivery vehicle fleet to ensure that optimal quality of customer service can be maintained.

ForFarmers is a market leader in Europe with annual sales of approximately 10 million tonnes of animal feed. The company has operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the U.K. and, since July 2018, also in Poland.