More than 110 delegates attended the Dairy Council’s 2025 Sustainable Dairy Conference to hear about the work being done locally and across the world to deliver a more sustainable dairy supply chain.
Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Andrew Muir opened the conference with an overview of the work he has done during his first year in office, including securing a ring-fenced agriculture budget, giving much needed certainty and reassurance for the farming community.
Recognising the scale and economic importance of the local dairy industry, he spoke extensively about the rollout of the newly renamed Sustainable Agriculture Programme (SAP) which he said would play an instrumental role in supporting the dairy sector and addressing the environmental challenges ahead. He spoke briefly about the upcoming SAP information sessions and encouraged the sector to engage fully.
A global market outlook from Gira Foods Managing Director Christophe Lafougere outlined how sustainability is a permanent feature in the global dairy landscape, with many retail and hospitality brands already publicly committed to reaching net zero between 2030 and 2050.
Christophe also illustrated the importance of value-added dairy products on the world stage and the role that protein continues to play in global diet trends whilst adding that butter prices remain higher than usual with no indication of when or if that will adjust.
Speaking about the event and global market trends, Dairy Council CEO, Ian Stevenson said,
“With financial and environmental sustainability being such a focus for the sector the conference was a great platform for the sector to hear about the newly launched Sustainable Agriculture Programme and how farmers and supply chain partners can engage with DAERA to play their part in delivering a more sustainable future.
Christophe’s comments on the global dairy market trends indicated that global dairy consumption is continuing to grow and that pressures on supply chain margins will likely see European based processors revise their milk volumes, focus more on adding value to the milk they are processing, including through more cheese and protein sales, and by continuing to drive efficiencies in the factory processes.
“In order to meet the ever-increasing demands being placed on the dairy sector it will need to build both sustainability and resilience and work with government partners to ensure it is fit to manage the delivery of those climate change goals.
“Environmental sustainability goes hand in hand with social and economic sustainability and the dairy sector is a vital component of the Northern Ireland economy, sustaining the livelihoods of around 3,200 dairy farming families and over 2,200 employees of dairy processors around Northern Ireland. Worth almost £1.5 billion annually, the dairy sector is an important pillar in rural communities throughout Northern Ireland.
“Taking an evidence-based approach to sustainability is key to improving the dairy sector’s environmental footprint and lowering emissions, and the CAFRE and DAERA Presentations illustrated how Northern Ireland is taking the necessary steps to provide a reliable evidence base for future decision-making and partnership working.”
Don Morrow, Head of Dairy, Pigs, Poultry and Crops at CAFRE spoke about the CAFRE Estate Sustainability Strategy, dairy centre performance and some of the initiatives being deployed on site to reduce antimicrobial use, reduce ammonia emissions, calculate CAFRE’s carbon footprint, improve water and soil quality, and measuring biodiversity to map out areas for improvement.
Going forward Don said CAFRE will be seeking to maximise the biodiversity and carbon storage benefits of its 37km of field boundaries by planting new mixed species and local provenance hedgerows along 3km of fence line and incorporating trees into the existing hedgerow where appropriate.
DAERA Deputy Director of Green Growth Jonathan McFerran spoke about the Sustainable Use of Livestock Slurry (SULS) programme which forms part of the Lough Neagh Action Plan and aims to provide solutions for nutrient management, sustainable energy, targeted nutrient application and possible export of surplus nutrients once separated.
Jack Blakiston Houston, Managing Director at BH Estates is participating in the SULS programme Farm2Export project and shared further insights into his work to develop a phosphorous export product by mobile separation of solids from slurry. These solids are then removed from the source farms and fed into an anaerobic digestion process with the aim of reducing the amount of phosphorus returned to the soil in Northern Ireland.
In closing, Dairy Council CEO Ian Stevenson chaired a discussion panel to talk about DAERA’s Sustainable Agriculture Programme, the impact of the changes of Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and the role dairy processors are playing in supporting farmers to continue to improve their farm business sustainability and meet the expectations of buyers in the global dairy market. The panel included Dr Rosemary Agnew, Director of Agricultural Policy within DAERA, UFU President William Irvine and Dale Farm’s Producer Services Director Neville Graham.
To view our sustainability information and programmes click here.
