A NETHER Stowey farm has been awarded a £288,000 grant so that it can turn whey, a waste product, into low fat hard cheese.

This in turn will help local dairy farmers and create four full-time jobs for local people.

Cricketer Farm currently processes locally produced milk into premium mature Cheddar cheese, cream and butter.

It is investing almost £1 million in new equipment to expand by using whey waste to add low fat hard cheese to its output.

The grant from DEFRA has been offered in support of the £960,000 investment.

Managing director Derek Buller said: "These have been difficult times for the dairy industry but, with the help of the new equipment, we will be able to add value to the whey waste produced by the cheese making process.

"It will allow us to capture the whey proteins from the waste and concentrate them to produce a product in demand from the food manufacturing industry.

"It will also allow us to make increasing quantities of low fat hard cheese - a product that is in much demand in these diet conscious times.

"It will also mean that, by expanding, we can buy more milk locally from farms in the area as well as increase employment opportunities.

"The expansion in our business will mean that there will be a further four full-time jobs and help to secure the present employees."

Phil Owens, of DEFRA Rural Development Service, said the department was pleased to support the "innovative and exciting" move at Cricketer Farm.

"It is a double win situation - the development of a new product to market and the safe, clean disposal of a potentially polluting waste product," he added.

In the past, whey has been fed to pigs but the decline of the pig industry and increased transport costs has meant this is no longer an option.

Now, the whey proteins will be captured by the use of membrane technology and reverse osmosis. Orders have been placed for the equipment which is expected to arrive in the autumn.