Advertise on podcast: The Milk Business

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.

On this weeks show we talk to Dr Maha Tahiri about first understanding what is meant by 'Ultra-processed', and secondly, what challenges are presented to the dairy industry by this process. She has some very clear advice for companies and also some great insights into how to address the issue. We also have a 'Insight special' on Chobani - the American company that has revolutionised the yoghurt category in the US and is now setting its sights on the coffee market.

On this episode of The Milk Business Jack Kennedy talks to Dr Maha Tahiri, a global nutrition consultant on how companies should react to the 'GLP1 Tsunami' that is engulfing consumers the world over. We also hear from farmers around the world to get a handle on global milk supply. Dairy Farmers of America have just launched a new product called MULU - we preview it and talk about increasing costs of milk processing.

In the first two parts of the Protein Rush we talked about the dairy protein revolution that is sweeping across the world at the moment. In this episode, part three, and the final episode in this Protein Rush series, we dig into how the demand for protein is changing the commercial reality for dairy businesses with Aoife Murphy, Chief Commercial Ingredients executive with Tirlan in Ireland. Aoife has worked with Glanbia and Tirlan and both are huge global players in the protein game.

In part two of the Protein Rush Jack Kennedy chats to Professor Paddy Wall about the Food First Strategy in China, how the Chinese infant formula market fundamentally changed, and we ask can you overload on protein consumption?

Jack Kennedy talks with Professor Patrick Wall about the global protein rush and how weight loss drugs are part of the driver for increased dairy protein consumption globally. We hear from dairy farmers around the world. We profile a new product produced by Lactalis onsale in the United States and we discuss the latest milk market moves.