While he had concerns about the big overhang of butter stocks, Dairygold CEO Michael Harte was positive about the short- to medium-term dairy outlook and was hopeful that milk price would be a couple of cents higher in March 2027.
Pointing to the continued strength of global dairy demand, he said Dairygold was looking to capitalise on the emerging opportunities for protein, nutrition and higher-value dairy ingredients.
“The last decade has been about investing in our processing capability. The current phase is about maximising those assets, driving efficiency and creating more value from every litre of milk we process,” he said.
Speaking at Dairy Day 2026 in UL, Harte outlined the Munster-based co-operative ambition to build on their significant investment over the past decade.
Having invested €400m in its processing network in that time, he said Dairygold is focused on maximising the utilisation of its processing facilities and continuing to diversify its portfolio towards higher-value dairy products.
Investment
Investment in higher-value proteins and nutritional products is a major part of Dairygold’s strategy to generate greater value from its suppliers’ milk he said.
Citing its €46m investment in its casein facility in Mitchelstown, the Munster-based co-operative has the capacity to produce around 15% more casein powder and deliver a wider range of casein variants including rennet and acid casein.
Additional whey streams delivered from this increased casein production and investment in ultra filtration technology will provide greater flexibility to process whey into higher-value protein products such as WPC80 to take advantage of the growing global demand for protein.
Generational renewal
Responding to a question on generational renewal, he acknowledged it was a challenge, but Dairygold was working on it all the time and its succession support through the pathways programme was a help.
“We have 2,400 milk suppliers and we’re seeing 60 retire a year. Our focus is to try and keep the land in dairy or enterprises that support dairy.
"We’re also seeing our members continue to scale up and increase and we’re very focused on trying to increase average milk solids to 500kg by 2030."
