It says that after two years of low milk pay-outs, world production is finally decreasing, with the latest projections confirming that currently world milk demand is growing faster than supply in 2016 and 2017.
At the 14th annual IFCN Supporter Conference, held earlier this month in Wageningen, The Netherlands, Torsten Hemme, IFCN managing director, said that further price increases are a logical consequence unless any major dairy demand crisis arises.
Future of dairy farming
The conference brought together more than 110 analysts and dairy professionals from about 80 leading agribusiness companies. The event focused on the question: “What is the future of dairy farming systems?”
IFCN has defined future dairy farms as a current farm that will be still producing in 10 years. It says that in the next 10 years, the number of farms will be reduced by more than 40% in Western Europe.
However, the IFCN says that by 2025 there will be larger farms on the global level. And, the IFCN says, this will not mean less cows, as the number of cows and also milk yield are expected to increase.
In workshops, the agribusiness partners concluded that economic considerations represent the most limiting factor of growth, more than social, environmental and risk factors.
IFCN said that the representatives of the dairy industry in attendance held the common view that sharing of knowledge and data is the way forward to develop new techniques and solutions for dairy farms that will ensure that milk supply meets the increasing future milk demand.