Dairy polishes silverware for poor farmers – Background on dairy

So it doesn’t matter that the dairy industry has to deal with this. The previous government’s buyout schemes may have attracted mainly pig farmers, but also several hundred, mostly larger and newer dairy farms with lots of milk. In addition to the losses of these companies will come new losses. It is expected that the continued purchase of companies, as the House of Representatives wants, will not have much effect in itself. Along with a critical decline in fertilizer production, many dairy farmers are expected to marry. That can still cost 10% to 15% of milk.

No one remains unscathed

Such a loss of milk cannot remain unaffected by the processing industry, even if there is an increase in milk imports from Belgium and Germany. So it’s reasonable to expect more places to close. But with whom? No one seems to come out of the battle completely unscathed.

For the country’s largest processor FrieslandCampina, it is particularly important to maintain sufficient critical mass, whether this is 9 or 8.5 billion kilos of milk per year. The dairy cooperative must face several challenges, especially since the cooperative has a large number of older and smaller member companies and the companies will be concentrated in the south and east of the country. felt the recession particularly hard, it is reported. .

Tons of profit

However, FrieslandCampina has a strong trump card with the guaranteed price and is putting more emphasis on the power of milk money by introducing a ‘whole milk price’. This is mainly aimed at relieving competitors from numerous costly arguments. FrieslandCampina wants to show that it can make payments again and perform more sustainably again. The entry fees remain a major barrier.

However, the company is now making extensive calculations to show how many tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of euros would have been better for dairy farmers if they had stayed at FrieslandCampina over the ten last year.

Plus open flow

The biggest competitor Royal A-ware is introducing a change to the premium system for the new year, which will strengthen the milk money portfolio. The company is also reopening access to the Better for Milk stream and the Koe Bewust stream. The company won’t divulge numbers, but says it has acquired new suppliers in the past year and that more will be added in early 2025. However, A-ware will also have stops .

‘Low carbon’ and high five year average

Vreugdenhil Dairy Foods has been working on expanding its sustainability program in recent years and has set up a scheme in collaboration with Nestlé to encourage investments in it. Starting in the new year, there will be a new incentive scheme for ‘low carbon farming’, where dairy farmers will receive up to an extra €5 bonus per 100 kilos. Vreugdenhil Dairy Foods has not done badly in terms of payouts in recent years, although it did not have very high share prices at the time. The company paid the highest average milk price and pasture milk price over the past five years.

DOC Kaas will not introduce a completely new milk ration package next year, but this year it will introduce a premium portion based on the example of PlanetProof and Beter voor. At DOC this is called the Tuurlijk program, in collaboration with Jumbo. There was a lot of interest, but there is still room, DOC reports. DOC will also start a new ‘Haltungsstufe program’ for the German market on January 1, similar to A-ware’s Koe Bewust. There is also room for new entrants.

Lactalis Leerdammer and Hochwald Foods do not seem to expect many changes. Lactalis Leerdammer has lost several members in recent years and is now mainly trying to retain and win suppliers with high costs for large quantities of additional milk. The DeltaMilk Cooperative has a special place, with some of its members also benefiting from participating in the Better for Albert Heijn and A-ware program.

Waiting list gone, door open

Cooperative Cono will expand the existing Dairy Care program at the beginning of 2025 and increase the amount of money by € 1.50 to a maximum of € 6.00 per 100 kilos. Earlier this year, Cono decided to set the entry fee to zero, as there is no longer a waiting list. With these measures, the North Holland / Overijssel cooperation is trying to regain its position. In the last few years, it was not able to pay the highest price of milk​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​recent There is talk of recovery, but Cono has yet to fully fight back. For years, Cono also didn’t lose any members, but that seems to be changing.

Finally, FrieslandCampina’s biggest competitor Arla will not change much from the new year. The Nordic cooperative has changed the milk price increase this year, with additional awards for sustainability and climate. In terms of pay for milk money, Arla seems to be an obscure player, but one that is holding up well and also paying extra per a year that really counts.