Transfer market dairy is running at full speed again

Although everyone is recruiting, the busy transfer market is not a simple game of musical chairs. Everyone knows that the number of dairy farmers in the Netherlands is declining, so some companies have to bring in more farmers than others to maintain milk volumes. Moreover, the market is not limited to the Netherlands. Recruitment is also taking place across the border.

However, the transfer market for dairy farmers is not really transparent. Anyone who will gain members or suppliers will want to tell us. Those who lose prefer to keep this out of the picture. A company like Lactalis Leerdammer hardly responds to questions at all. Yet the overall picture is clear. FrieslandCampina and Lactalis Leerdammer see members or suppliers leaving, other parties see them coming. 

Also action across the border
Vreugdenhil Dairy Foods already hired a large number of former FrieslandCampina members last year and going there this year continue with it. Royal A-ware does the same. The company had a series of meetings for existing and new suppliers this week. Both companies are also active in Belgium.

Cooperatives such as DOC Kaas and Cono do not do that. The first takes on targeted companies, but throughout almost the whole of the Netherlands. Cono mainly recruits in North Holland and Overijssel and is still in the relatively luxurious position that it can still take companies off the waiting list. This despite the fact that the milk price this year is slightly lower than normal. Arla also continues to recruit in relative silence. 

FrieslandCampina, which is seeing quite a few members leave, is now increasingly on the counter-offensive. Last spring, chairman Sybren Attema and CEO Hein Schumacher made an appearance in Flanders to recruit members there, while work is also being done in Germany. In the Netherlands, there is a lot of leafleting going on and farmers are also being called. Members who threaten to leave often even get the chairman on the phone. FrieslandCampina does not say what the net benefit will be, but a spokesperson states that the campaign certainly produces results.

Fight for the raw material
There is also a lot at stake for the dairy companies. While supply stops and the like were imposed a few years ago, the fight for the scarce raw material has now broken out in full force. The private processors were the first to recognize the importance of a good supplier base and took advantage of it. The cooperatives are now fighting back.