Dairy sighs, but image and 'hi-protein' give hope

Chairman Albert de Groot (also CEO of Vreugdenhil Dairy Foods) says he has never seen prices fall as sharply and rapidly as in recent months in his more than 30-year career in the dairy sector. People are suffering. Fellow entrepreneurs agree.

However, there's not much more discussion about the market. It's prohibited by competition rules, and the EDA also tries to look at the long term, beyond the economic cycle. And after difficult times, there are also other times. Moreover, it seems that society is becoming more positive about dairy again.

Young generation
Gone are the days when milk fat was seen as unhealthy, according to McKinsey consultants. "It's more neutral now," says partner Karl Nilsson. "On the other hand, a whole new generation is interested in dairy proteins." So, while the price has been down for a while now, the image has improved. That's a significant consolation for the dairy sector.

Even beyond the market, there are still plenty of challenges facing dairy farming and the dairy sector. Rob de Wijk of the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies also has something to say about this. He emphasizes the importance of dairy and food production in general as a strategic asset.

ASML and agriculture
For the Netherlands, he even considers it one of the very few strategic assets, along with ASML. In De Wijk's opinion, the Dutch government should not only ensure that an agricultural sector remains, but also that there's enough of it. Quality alone isn't enough; quantity also matters. It's a shame that many NGOs completely ignore this. They reason too short-sightedly, he says, and, like many other Dutch people, primarily from the mindset of "not in my backyard." This attitude, he believes, could come back to haunt them.

Fortunately, there's now a different European Commission, which—according to Alisa Tiganj, a member of Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen's cabinet—is no longer imposing top-down policies on agriculture, but is working with the sector to achieve better and simpler policies. A new package of simplification proposals is scheduled for December, a month from now, and the Commission intends to continue supporting farmers after that.

Lobbying in Brussels
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission has become convinced that it needs to be more considerate of its own farmers. Moreover, other power players, such as China, must also be taken into account. Lobbying by organizations like the EDA is also helping. The approval for the use of processed manure as a fertilizer substitute – known as Renure – was achieved thanks to advocacy from many parties, including, according to the EDA, the EDA. The EDA also helped prevent the emission levy (ETS). The organization is based in Brussels and regularly consults with the Commission and the European Parliament from there, which is quite different from when the Green Deal was rolled out across Europe, and the dairy industry is happy about that. Europe wants to keep farmers, it must keep farmers, as outgoing Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LVVN) Femke Wiersma also stated during a brief appearance.