Kategorie: News

In Great Britain the discounter Lidl is scrapping ‘Use By’ dates on all own brand milk and yoghurt to help customers reduce food waste at home. According to Lidl milk and yoghurt that has been stored correctly and does not smell bad or appear lumpy is safe to consume. Lidl is therefore encouraging customers to use their judgment and be guided by ‘Best Before’ dates to help determine whether to consume.

In Great Britain the private dairy Freshways has acquired all shares of Moreco Group Limited who trade as Milk & More. Milk & More operates 31 depots in the midlands and south of England and predominantly delivers to residential doorsteps and education establishments. Freshways employs about 1000 employees that process about 500 million litres milk annually. Many years ago Freshways left the doorstep market. Its re-entry into the doorstep market through the acquisition of Milk & More is because customer habits are changing in relation to convenience through the growth of home delivery, according Freshways.

In Ireland the dairy cooperative Lakeland will close three plants to enhance efficiency and will invest in the retained sites to add capabilities. Because of the closure almost 80 people will lose their job. Lakeland has 3200 farm members who produce 2 billion (10*9) litres of milk annually.

In Ireland the private dairy Kerry in partnership with Bank of Ireland has launched sustainability-linked loans to provide additional funding for farmers implementing sustainable farming practices. Initial applicants will come from suppliers to Kerry Dairy Ireland who are participants of its ‘Evolve Sustainability Programme,’ and are carrying out environmental sustainability measures on their farms.

In Ireland in the month October 2023 the milk intake by processors was more than 12 percent less than in October 2022 and almost 7 percent less than October 2021. Source: Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO).

In Ireland Teagasc estimates for 2023 an average dairy farm family income of 59000 euro. For 2024 Teagasc estimates a ten percent increase of the farmers milk price to 47.5 eurocent per litre which would result in an average dairy farm family income of 86000 euro.

In Ireland the government has paid 5 million euro to dairy farms that have taken part in the National Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme. The objective of the scheme is to support decision making on farms through better quality data on herd performance and to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of the beef from the dairy herd, and to facilitate further the integration of the dairy and beef sectors by providing support for farmers who are rearing progeny from the dairy herd. Among other conditions, calves born from dairy cows have to be weighed. The weights must be submitted to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) to get a payment for a maximum of 50 calves. This year farmers get 20,- euro per calf weighed.

In Ireland researchers at the Walton Institute have identified higher frequency ranges that are being considered for 6G communication which are absorbed by specific gases in the atmosphere. This makes it possible that greenhouse gas emissions from individual dairy farms could soon be measured using artificial intelligence technology which works by using the next generation mobile phone network. The researchers have designed machine-learning algorithms that could be integrated into wireless communication infrastructure to measure gas concentrations in the atmosphere on the basic principle that higher concentrations of certain gases lead to higher absorption of wireless signals at specific wireless frequencies. Each gas has its own absorption profile that is unique. This means that individual gases could be monitored in real time.

The Denmark headquartered dairy cooperative Arla has through its daughter company Arla Foods Ingredients teamed up with ENORM, Northern Europe’s largest insect farm, in a partnership that has the intention to significantly reduce food waste. The partnership will focus on the re-use of de-lactosed permeate (DLP) which is a residual dairy stream generated in large volumes during lactose production. Most DLP is currently used as material for biogas production, which is a less preferable option than re-use for animal feed according to the food waste hierarchy set out in the EU’s Waste Framework Directive. From early 2024 Arla will supply up to 15 truckloads of DLP a week to ENORM. When a new facility is up and running, it will be able to produce 100 tonnes of black soldier fly larvae daily which is enough for more than 10000 tonnes of insect meal.

In Sweden the northern dairy cooperative Norrmejerier has adjusted its organization to pay more attention to sustainability. Norrmejerier is owned by about 500 farmers. It processes about 200 million kilograms of milk per year into a wide range of dairy products. Norrmejerier wants to reduce climate emissions from its own operations by 40 percent and climate emissions in the supply chain, including farms, other raw materials, packaging and transport, by 25 percent by 2030. The dairy has already taken measures to reduce the climate impact on farms. Using, among other things, soy-free feed, feed supplements that reduce methane emissions from cows, manure with a low climate footprint and only electricity from renewable sources, milk is produced that has an at least 25 percent smaller climate footprint than the average milk in Sweden. Currently, almost 90 percent of Norrmejerier’s packaging is recyclable and the goal for this is to be 100 percent by 2025. The majority of packaging nowadays consists of cardboard, which can be reused up to seven times in other cardboard products.

In France this year so far national milk production has decreased more than two percent. Because of this the private dairy Lactalis has a short of milk supply and has asked contracted dairy farms to increase their milk two percent more than mentioned in their contract. Also in Holland Lactalis is looking for more milk to be able to increase the production of cheese.

In Ukraine in 2022 the volume of national milk production decreased 16 percent according to the FAO.

In Germany in the first eight months of this year the production of organic milk increased by 6.5 percent compared to the same period last year. To compare: traditional milk production increased 2.0 percent in the same period compared to the same period last year.

The Holland headquartered dairy cooperative Royal FrieslandCampina was in 2021 sentenced in Thailand by the Court of First Instance to compensate a former client for a total amount of Thai Baht 2.2 billion (EUR 58 million). The court issued a judgment in a business dispute between RFC Thailand and a business-to-business client. In 2021, based on its interpretation of the contract between RFC and this client, the court concluded that, between 2009 and 2019, RFC had overcharged its client. RFC disagreed with the judgment and was appealing against it. In October 2023, the Bangkok Commercial Court of Appeal overruled the judgment of the Court of First Instance and ruled that FrieslandCampina is not liable to pay 58 million euros in damages alleged by this client. Parties can still file an appeal before the Supreme Court of Thailand.

In Holland in the milk year 2022/2023 the average rolling annual (365 days) milk production of recorded cows was 9346 (+ 260 compared to the previous year) kilogram milk with 4.45 (+0.07) percent fat and 3.61 (+0.06) percent protein. Average lifetime production of cows when leaving the farm was 38327 (+926) kilogram milk with 4.38 percent fat and 3.57 percent protein. This was produced in 1303 days. The average dry period was 53 days. They left on an age of 2255 (+22) days or six years and one month. In the milk year 2022/2023 a number of 4707 (+750) crossed the border of 100 000 kilogram milk production and 406 (+109) cows crossed the border of production of 10 000 kilogram fat and protein. The number of recorded farms was 11870 (- 394) and average recorded farm had 113 (+4) cows. Source: CRV.

In Holland research by Wageningen University & Research shows that there can be large differences between nitrogen uptake by different corn for silage (maize) varieties. The differences were greater at higher yields. During the study, the maximum differences were 70 kilograms of N per hectare. The researchers assume that in practice the differences are between 35 and 50 kilograms of N per hectare.

In Holland a measure proposed by the government to limit ammonia emissions will not go ahead. The government wanted the slurry manure to be diluted with water when applying to sandy soils by using a slurry injector. The idea was that the diluted manure would be absorbed more quickly by the soil, resulting in less ammonia escaping. However, practical research shows that diluting with water does not lower the emission of nitrogen on sandy soils.

In Holland in 2020, 2021 and 2022 regular dairy farms realized average a margin of 4.6 eurocent per kilogram milk compared to 2,3 eurocent per kilogram milk by organic dairy farms. During this period average farmers organic milk price was 8.4 eurocent per kilogram milk more than regular milk price but production costs of organic milk price was average 17 eurocent per kilogram milk more. In this period critical milk price per kilogram milk of organic milk increased from 47.4 to 55.8 eurocent compared to regular milk from 36.7 to 46.3 eurocent. Source: Flynth accountancy.

In Holland organic farmers, also organic dairy farmers, are the only organic farmers in the EU that do not get direct subsidies from the national government to stimulate organic farming. In Holland, of all farm land only four percent is used for organic production.

In Holland a pressure group focussing on animal welfare, is anti animal farming and pro vegetarianism and veganism has started a new campaign to portray dairy farming in a bad light. Among other things, she uses the following paid spot on national radio for this purpose: „A dairy cow can live up to twenty years, but on average goes to slaughter around the age of six. Then she is sick, exhausted, demolished. The milk from those cows we call scrap milk. And it is high time that it disappears from the supermarket.“