While dairy markets for much of the last six months of 2026 can be categorised as being mostly stable, the question on every farmer’s mind is what happens next?
To help answer this, we have assembled a panel of experts to address the topics affecting the dairy market today.
They will all address Dairy Day 2026 at UL Arena, Limerick.
Mike McCully’s Irish heritage runs deep and so too does his knowledge of the global dairy sector. Prior to setting up McCully Consulting in 2012, Mike worked in senior management roles at Kraft Foods in the US. He was responsible for sourcing most of the dairy commodities procured by Kraft in North America, as well as commodity risk management, dairy policy and industry relations at the conglomerate.
Born into a small dairy farm in the American Midwest, Mike left Kraft in 2012 to set up his own consultancy firm, McCully Consulting. Today, he works with some of the largest dairy co-operatives and milk processors in the world on strategic planning, risk management and market intelligence. He has lots of experience and knowledge of the Irish dairy sector.
At this session, Mike will give an overview of what is happening in the US right now. With over $14bn invested in stainless steel over the last few years, the US dairy sector looks poised for continuous growth.
With the latest figures from the USDA pointing to a 2.7% increase in milk production in September and with no slowdown in growth in sight, many are concerned that the US will flood the world with cheap dairy commodities, eating into markets traditionally served by excess European production.
Mike will outline the strategy employed by the US co-ops and dairy companies and looks at how profitable or otherwise dairy farming is in the US right now.
Michael Harte was appointed permanent CEO of Dairygold Co-op in July 2025 having held the interim CEO role for the previous six months. Michael’s commitment to Dairygold runs deep, having commenced employment at the Munster based co-op as a graduate in 1989 and he was appointed chief financial officer in 2006.
In this role he oversaw the significant investment in Dairygold as the co-op more than trebled output as milk quotas were removed. Michael is guiding the co-op now through a period of change as expansion slows and recent investments have been made by the co-op in areas other than core milk processing.
At Dairy Day 2026, Michael will give an overview of the co-op today, its strategy to grow revenues and profit and ultimately increase farmer returns. Michael will address some of the challenges and opportunities facing the dairy sector in Ireland today and give an overview of where he sees milk prices going over the short to medium term.
Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest dairy co-op and one of the largest milk processors in the world has just executed one of the most radical strategic reforms in the history of the co-operative movement. While many co-ops take great pride and place a lot of weight in their branded dairy products, Fonterra has taken the opposite view and decided to instead sell off its branded dairy business.
Fonterra sold its Mainland cheese brand, Anchor butter brand and all its other brands to Lactalis with the deal concluding in March 2026. The move to sell its brands is a realignment of the strategic focus of the co-op into higher value ingredients. The sale returned €2.12bn to Fonterra, which then returned €1.61bn to its farmer shareholders in the form of €1 per share.
As shared-up farmers in New Zealand own one share per kilogram of milk solids produced, a farmer with 200 cows would have received approximately €90,000 from the sale.
The question for Fonterra shareholders now is how is the co-op going to deliver more value from commodities and what strategy are they employing to achieve this. Daire Cregg is currently in New Zealand meeting farmers and industry experts and will report on his findings at Dairy Day.
This session will take place at the Beyond the Parlour stage at 11.30am
