The Milk Business

Europe is well behind the US and New Zealand when it comes to milk price management tools for hedging milk price. This week host Jack Kennedy gets the insights of a trading expert John O'Driscoll who was globally trading dairy and other food commodities to hear his thoughts on risk management to make margins and returns more predictable and consistent. We also hear from milk suppliers around the world to keep a handle on what's happening supply. 

With dairy companies announcing new mergers and acquisitions at renewed pace in 2026 this week podcast host Jack Kennedy talks to a global expert on why it's all happening and what dairy companies not in the M&A space need to consider. As Europe melts in extreme heat we are talk melting of a different sort this week as dairy companies around the world continue to merge, bolt-on, change, diversify, grow and develop. This week Dutch based expert Mark Voorbergen, an independent consultant working in the field of strategy, finance and mergers with global dairy companies joins us on the Milk Business Podcast to talk mergers, why now, and what next. 

With a new strategy in place for global dairy giant Fonterra, a template and a history in share farming and equity partnerships, and an industry that is treating livestock emissions differently to many other countries – the global dairy industry needs to hear more from New Zealand. This week the Milk Business podcast host Jack Kennedy talks to Nicola Shadbolt from New Zealand about some of the fundamental challenges to dairy farming and how the Kiwi's are managing these new changes. We also hear from milk suppliers from Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, New Zealand and Australia. 

If the airline industry can ride the storms of higher energy prices why can’t the dairy industry? Europe is playing catch up to the rest of the world on milk price risk management. The US dairy industry is leading the way on options for protecting margins. This week Jack Kennedy talks to global expert broker John Lancaster from StoneX on his experience, recommendations and advice on what the next steps should be. We also hear from farmers around the world as they prepare for calving in New Zealand and making winter feed in Europe. 

Since 2021 Kerry Group plc have started to evolve their existing milk business into a stand alone business unit. In December 2024 Kerry shareholders and milk suppliers voted unamimously to take back the milk business into majority co-op ownership. This Kerry milk business that was previously called Kerry Dairy Ireland – now has been rebranded Kinisla. This podcast carries the full interview between Jack Kennedy and Kinisla CEO Pat Murphy.

After a recent period of turbulance it seems calm has been restored on what was 'the Kerry way', but now is 'the Kinisla way'. World renowned Kerry Group plc still own 30% of the Kinisla dairy business, however, milk suppliers are back in control of the Kinisla co-op now. This week Jack Kennedy sat down in Kinisla headquarters to meet with CEO Pat Murphy to talk changes, where for the future, and how Kinisla expect to better compete on a global stage. We also hear from milk suppliers in New Zealand, Australia, France, and the Netherlands. 

This week there were some very interesting global dairy news stories so Jack Kennedy said he’d package them together to bring a flavour of some of the breaking news in the dairy game. Fonterra announced financial results and announced a forecast milk price for the rest of the 2025/2026 season, and also another forecast milk price for 2026/2027 season. The Arla merger with DMK and DOC was formally approved by the EU, over 12 months after it was first announced, and, the company formerly known as Kerry Dairy Ireland re-booted it's journey under a new name, Kinisla. 

This week on the Milk Business Podcast Jack Kennedy talks to a global expert from Ireland on what’s happening globally in terms of trying to tie down what revenue, milk price or even margin milk suppliers are getting around the world.MTU expert Declan O Connor from Cork in Ireland has many years of experience lecturing the industry on the benefits of risk management to the dairy industry. We also hear from farmers in New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands, France, England, Brazil and Ireland on what they are doing to manage risk. 

This week given the significance to world trade of a meeting between the Presidents of US and China Jack Kennedy chats to Ian Lahiffe in Beijing about the 'meeting', milk production in China, Taiwan, Foot and Mouth, and Chinese whole milk powder imports. We also hear from dairy farmers around the world discuss key issues facing them as we head into the last week of May. 

The majority of European milk is purchased by co-operatives (c.60%), however, a large chunk of milk produced in major European milk producing countries such as France, the UK and Germany is purchased by private companies. One of the key differences between private and co-operatives entities is that milk suppliers are not the owners of the business, and hence processing investment decisions, milk payment decisions and retained earnings for growth are in the hands of private owners not milk suppliers. Frischli, is a German private milk processing company and is one of the most modern and high performance dairies in Germany. For over 125 years, the owner-managed company has produced dairy products, which fulfil the highest standards for quality, sustainability and taste. Processing over 1 billion litres of milk annually it has business in retail, food service and export markets. With over 1,000 employees across four processing sites it processes milk from over 750 German farmers. This week I sat down with executives from Frischli to discuss how the business runs as it celebrates 125 years in business.

This week on the milk business podcast we report from the 2026 Dairy Industry Newsletter annual conference in London. A host of global experts gathered to discuss what they expect to happen to global milk supply as commodity dairy prices and milk prices to farmers mean some of the actual farmgate milk prices are some of the worst experienced for the last 20 years. We also hear from suppliers around the world as they describe the key issues impacting in their region. 

Fonterra, the heavyweight dairy giant headquartered in New Zealand, is starting out on a new chapter without a consumer business. It is now setting out it's stall as a high tech protein business driven by an ingredients powerhouse. Will it work? Is there merit to this new strategy? In this episode we ask Leonie Guiney, ex director of Fonterra and now shareholder and farmer in the South Island of New Zealand her thoughts on the new vision and strategy.