Dale Farm is planning to expand its milk pool in Northern Ireland by up to 1%/annum over the next 10 years, according to the co-op’s group chief executive, Nick Whelan.
If achieved, this will see Dale Farm processing an extra 10 million litres of milk/annum.
“This issue is not related to cow numbers. Increases of this magnitude can be secured on the back of improvements in individual cow yields and enhanced levels of farm efficiency,” Whelan said.
Dale Farm has a major presence at Balmoral Show 2024, which is taking place from today (Wednesday, May 15) to Saturday, May 18.
The co-op is also confirming an almost 100% farmer participation in a detailed sustainability survey of its farming businesses.
The information secured has allowed the management at Dale Farm to determine the carbon footprint of all the milk coming into its processing centres at the present time.
Whelan continued: “We now have a fully quantified carbon base line. This will underpin the development of farm management systems, which ensure that Dale Farm meets its future climate change targets.
“The participation shown by Dale Farm producers in committing to the recent survey cannot be underestimated.
“Our intention now, is to move forward with a new, on-farm development programme for Dale Farm producers later in the autumn.”
However, the co-op’s chief executive is also conscious of the need for members of the Northern Ireland Executive at Stormont to address climate change in a more meaningful way.
He added: “Farmers are concerned about the lack of clarity that surrounds the entire climate change agenda and what their role is in helping to address this issue into the future.
“In reality, the time for talking is over. Stormont must start to take real decisions when it comes to Northern Ireland meeting its climate change targets – the clock is ticking.”
Dale Farm
Whelan made these comments against the backdrop of Dale Farm confirming a £70 million investment in its cheddar processing facility at Dunmanbridge, Co. Tyrone.
“The investment works at two levels. In the first instance, it is allowing the business to modernise its processing operations for the future.
“Essentially, we have taken out milk driers that have been operating for the past 30 years and replaced them with a new start-of-the-art processing facility.
“More than this, it also sends out a signal that Dale Farm is looking to the future with confidence. This principle can be extended to Northern Ireland’s entire dairy industry,” the chief executive said.
Whelan said that Dale Farm has “built a strong reputation as a leader in cheddar production, and thanks to our reputation for quality, sustainability and consistency, are seeing strong customer growth in the category”.
The accredited its success to the “dedication and ingenuity demonstrated on a daily basis by the team right across the business”.
Dale Farm is “already exporting to 40 countries, and with this investment, we want to build on that momentum and future proof our operation at Dunmanbridge for decades to come”.
Work on the expanded operation at Dunmanbridge is well underway and is on track to go live in February 2025. As well as improving and replacing existing site-wide services and utilities, the expansion will include a new high-speed automated cheese slicing line, an increased warehouse footprint and investment in new patented products and processes.
The investment will increase the site’s cheese capacity by 20,000t/year, while also expanding its whey protein concentrate (WPC) capacity.
It will incorporate the integration of advanced energy efficient technologies which together with new production processes, will reduce the site’s carbon footprint by an estimated 4,500t/year when compared against milk powder production.
But it’s not all about cheese at Dale Farm, “we also have extremely sustainable beverage, ice cream, dairy fat and animal feed compounding operations. we want to build on all of this for the future”, Whelan added.