The main reasons for this decision were explained to employees. First, the cost structures at the Heilbronn and Schefflenz sites are too high and not competitive. In addition, there is an enormous need for investment at the Heilbronn site, which further exacerbates the situation. Secondly, In the highly competitive dairy products market, which includes the yogurts and desserts produced at the Heilbronn site, significant volume growth and the resulting cost efficiencies are not expected in the medium to long term.

Cornelia Heiser, managing director responsible for the Landliebe business, says, “A comprehensive economic analysis has shown that, under these conditions, the two production sites have no prospect of returning from the deep red to a profitable business in the long term. We will integrate the product portfolio into other German locations of the group. We are aware that this decision will cause uncertainty among employees and will start talks with the works council as soon as possible with the aim of finding socially acceptable solutions.”

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However, exports were completely different. While the entire cheese industry had to accept a decline of 6.7% in terms of volume, raclette even increased slightly by 0.2%. Around 3,264 tons of raclette were exported, most of them to Germany.

By October 2022, raclette exports had also declined. But in the last quarter of 2022, the trend turned and exports increased.

“We benefited from the fact that in Germany, too, the wallet is a little looser during the holidays and consumers are happy to spend a little more for good food,” says Jürg Kriech, managing director of the Raclette Suisse organization.

The current year got off to an equally positive start, with exports up to April above the previous year’s level.

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By scanning a QR code on the packaging, the climate footprint of Arla Æ.K.T fresh milk can be viewed quickly on the product website. The brand name Arla Æ.K.T is an abbreviation (acronym) of “Active for climate and animal welfare.” The use of the letter Æ is a feature to refer to the Scandinavian roots of the Arla dairy cooperative.  

“Arla Æ.K.T. is our new ‘maker’s milk’. With it we show, what our dairy farmers and we are actively doing for the climate and animal welfare,” says Lillie Li Valeur, head of Arla Foods in Germany. “Our ambitious, science-based climate targets also make it clear that we are ambitious and are working on more sustainable dairy farming.” 

Arla has set itself the goal of reducing CO2e emissions per kilogram of milk produced on the farms by 30% by the end of 2030.  

In the offices, dairies and in-house logistics there is a 63% reduction in emissions planned by 2030, from the amount in 2015. To this end, Arla is working, among other things, to use 100% green electricity in its European dairies by the end of 2025, which also includes investments in solar and wind farms to generate green electricity.  

With the voluntary, annual Arla climate checks, the individual climate footprints on Arla farms have been determined for three years and farmers receive professional advice on improvement measures to reduce their CO2e footprint. These measures range from optimised feeding and more sustainable farming to the use of green electricity on the farm. 

With the Arlagården quality program, Arla has established its own evaluation system, which also checks over 30 animal welfare criteria on the farms. In addition, there are regular health checks on the cows, during which the farmers enter the data from their animals in a central Arla database and the results are documented and evaluated.  

In addition, cows of Arla Æ.K.T farmers are out on the pasture for at least 120 days a year for at least six hours a day. The results of the climate checks, in which 88% of Arla meadow milk farmers (representing 94% of Arla meadow milk production) took part, show that on average 75% of the forage on these farms comes from their own fields. Local and self-produced feed means short transport routes and regionality.  

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The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Germany says milk will no longer be considered food in the future, but only “a drink.” The new rating is scheduled to come into effect by the end of the year. Around 700 companies with more than 1,000 brands have already registered to use the Nutri-Score in the German marketing area.

Until the end of 2025, there will be a transitional period for registered companies to change the labelling so that they do not have to destroy goods or packaging that have already been produced. While previously, low-fat milk could also be sorted into level A, in future the dark green A will be reserved solely for water.

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“Once again we are experiencing market failure. Responsible for this is, once again, is the subsequent fixing of milk prices. As before, the producers lack important information on the market situation at the time of the production decision. Market signals such as falling demand are not passed on to the milk producers in a timely manner, ie, before the milk is produced, and the quantity supplied and the quantity demanded, diverge,” says Frank Lenz, chairman of MEG Milch Board.

All of this has been known since an inquiry about the milk sector in 2012 by the German Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office).

“We very much welcome, in future, the Bundeskartellamt being able to take appropriate measures to remedy abuses of competition, which it finds as part of a sector inquiry – to pave the way to free milk producers in our economic system: that the purchase price, as is usual in most markets, is contractually agreed before the goods are delivered,” says Lenz.

He points specifically at three points required in the future: quantity needed, timescale for production and what price is agreed between negotiating partners for this quantity in this period.

“If this information reaches the producers before delivery, they can react appropriately to the needs of the market and the dairies as well as to threatening economic shocks, for example by restricting the amount of milk produced,” states the Milch Board chairman.

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Thise is producing a variant that is matured for around three weeks. Havarti cheese has long been traditionally made in Denmark, and in 2019 it received protected geographical indication (PGI) status from the EU. The PGI status of Havarti also means that this Danish cheese classic is supposed to be only made in Denmark and from Danish milk.

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“We are very excited to open our new Technology Center, after a short six-month construction phase. With the XLAB, we are taking product testing for our national and international customers to a whole new level. A special feature is the new 500-sqm air-conditioned hall, which can be cooled down to freezing point and enables customer tests under realistic conditions,” says Moritz Krunke, managing director of GEA’s Wallau site.

During the opening week, automation, digitization, sustainability, as well as training and performance support workshops will be offered to customers. Plant tours and live demonstrations on the slicing and packaging line, SmartPacker and CutMaster round off the program. Individual machines and complete, highly digitalized production lines are on display on the exhibition floor, and the business unit’s entire product portfolio is available. This includes technically complex thermoforming and vertical packaging machines, high-speed cutting and loading systems for meat, sausage, ham/bacon, cheese, frozen foods and vegetables, as well as highly flexible bowl cutters for the production of sausages, cheese, fish and meat substitute products. In addition, this business unit of GEA offers solutions for the production and packaging of lollipops and other confectionery and food products. The XLAB combines expertise from across the GEA business unit at one location.

GEA offers technology transformation 

“Our new Technology Center underscores our partnership-based customer relations on a national and international level. Together with our customers we develop tailored solutions that will play a decisive role in the technological transformation of the respective production area,” adds Jörg Kuhn, vice president of the Slicing & Packaging Business Unit.

GEA has been active in the food segment for many years and has since developed into a full liner that offers expert knowledge to support its customers throughout the entire process. GEA is not only a supplier, but also a consultant for customers just entering the industry. These are integrated into the processes and planning at an early stage. In addition to consulting, GEA stands out as a full-line supplier of machines for the entire process line, automation and software, which is a huge plus in terms of efficiency.

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For organic Kesselmeister cheese, fresh pasture milk from the region of north-eastern Germany is used. The cows graze on an average of 220 days a year: With this alone, the Gläserne Molkerei significantly exceeds the minimum pasture milk standard.

“Traditional craftsmanship and natural cheese are valued at the cheese counter. Healthy nutrition and the desire for species-appropriate animal husbandry are more than just a short-lived trend. With our Kesselmeister we have exactly the right answer to the wishes at the cheese counter,” claims Bettina Voss, marketing manager at Gläserne Molkerei.

Kesselmeister semi-hard cheese is now available with an improved recipe in the three varieties Goldstück, Pfefferecke and Kleekorn (gold piece, pepper corner and clover grain).

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The multi-year campaign aims to make Emmentaler AOP a versatile, varied and permanent part of the lives of young consumers. Analysis of the target groups previously carried out by Emmentaler Switzerland shows that the consumption and enjoyment habits are closely linked to lifestyle, sociability and well-being. Whether they are culinary foodies, lifestyle-oriented and health-conscious digital natives, travelers or family-oriented epicureans: they appreciate transparency, high quality and sustainability and love to share their food with friends and family.

“Share a Piece of You marks the start of the future for Emmentaler AOP,” says Urs Schluechter, director of Emmentaler Switzerland.  “A world-renowned brand with a centuries-old tradition not only shares its values with its previous consumers, but also with the younger generations – the millennials – who believe in the same values that have always inspired Emmentaler AOP. The strongest asset of this campaign is the chosen language and tonality and the ability to address the issues, which matter most to the younger generations. Much more than a repositioning, Share a Piece of You is a powerful and immediate call to action, which connects our brand with the modern consumer.”

In the coming months, the brand campaign will be launched in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, the Benelux countries and Spain. Depending on the country, the campaign can be seen in various online and offline media such as TV, online news portals, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and on the website, emmentaler.ch. The aim is to continuously increase awareness of Emmentaler AOP, especially among young people.

The campaign will tell that the cheese icon is a sustainably manufactured Swiss natural product. Whether pure or in combination with other fine ingredients, whether in cold or warm dishes, Emmentaler AOP is made to be enjoyed.

The Emmentaler Switzerland variety organisation is behind the campaign It promotes natural Emmentaler AOP made from raw milk in a long-term and sustainable manner in Switzerland and abroad on behalf of its members, and consists of three interest groups: milk producers, cheese manufacturers and trading companies.

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In addition, PEZ, a worldwide cult brand, has introduced two vegan ice cream compositions in a 2×140 ml cup format with either strawberry-lemon or cherry-banana flavour.

Further, DMK partner, Ehrmann, has also made its way into ice cream, with ice cream varieties  chocolate and bourbon vanilla in the 2×165 ml cup format.

DMK’s own brand Milram brings Danish pastries to ice cream in North Germany with the Franzbrötchen (Little Loaf) ice cream. The well-known Danish pastry with cinnamon and sugar comes from the north and is popular. On this basis, an ice cream infused with cinnamon sauce is presented in a 473 ml cup.

From April, all new products can be found in retail outlets.

“Despite all the challenges, we have developed a structure through the consistent establishment and expansion of our brand cooperation, with which we were able to reduce the negative effects on our business. The past year has shown that strong branded products continue to enjoy high demand from consumers. This encourages us to have taken the right strategic course in the medium and long term,” says Marcus-Dominic Hauck, COO of the DMK ice cream division.

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Nevertheless, the prices for energy and for many raw materials and supplies are still well above the level before the Ukraine war, underlines the LVN. Disrupted supply chains and the switch to alternative sources of supply ultimately continue to lead to higher procurement costs.

For several weeks it has been apparent that the sharp increase in producer prices for milk and the mild weather conditions have stimulated milk production in Germany. Around 1.6% more milk was delivered in October 2022 than in the same month last year.

Over the months of January to October 2022, the quantity of milk delivered is still 0.2% below the same period in the previous year. In addition to the increase in quantity, milk components (fat and protein) have also increased.

While good demand is reported from the German retail sector due to the public holidays, demand has weakened, particularly in exports and exports to third countries. In gastronomy, too, the demand after the summer boom has dropped to the normal level.

This situation has meanwhile also led to a cooling of the markets for milk and milk products. The prices for milk powder, butter and semi-hard cheese have also declined.

With the current mixed situation, it can be expected that producer prices will gradually weaken in the coming months, notes the LVN. It is also to be expected that the clear spread in the prices for delivery milk will narrow again, it further says.

Due to the persistently high cost factors and the declining dairy cow populations in many EU countries, moderate developments can be expected overall. In addition, the trend towards higher husbandry standards and the increasingly restrictive framework conditions caused by environmental and climate requirements prevent purely quantitative growth in volume, claims the LVN.

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In the project group, practical farms the Hofgut Neumühle teaching and research institute, the Technical University (TU) Kaiserslautern, and Hochwald Foods, John Deere and BASF SE are investigating how technology and the consistent use of data can be used to reduce the CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e) in milk production.

The project is intended to make a significant contribution to data management on dairy farms. Across all interfaces, data, which is already available on the dairy farm, can be used without additional effort. For this purpose, all production steps of a dairy farm related to milk production are considered, from the forage harvest to feeding, application of organic fertiliser, to the next harvest. At each production step, data is collected, summarised and analysed to determine the CO₂e savings potential.

The practice farms Wahlerhof and Schmiedhof as well as Hofgut Neumühle supply Hochwald and check the effectiveness and implementation in practice. They are scientifically supported by TU Kaiserslautern.

For Hochwald dairy it is not only important how the measures affect milk quality and milk marketing, but also for the transfer of knowledge to other dairy farmers. The knowledge gained on CO₂e reduction and data management should be implemented as comprehensively as possible, where it brings ecological and economic benefits, the company says.

The harvest forms the interface between field work and feeding. It is the basis for all further measures in milk production.

The next step in milk production is needs-based feeding. The change in the ingredients after ensiling is precisely recorded by sensors. In this way, fermentation losses can be determined, and the feed ration can be precisely adapted to the needs of the animals.

The utilisation of organic fertilisers plays a central role in the nutrient cycle of dairy farming and for the CO₂e footprint. Emissions can be reduced through needs-based fertilisation.

The interaction of these measures is one of the challenges for data management and CO₂e footprint calculations.

Needs-based fertilisation can increase nitrogen use efficiency and avoid nutrient surpluses with their consequences, such as eutrophication and nitrous oxide emissions.

The end product of the cycle is the ‘more sustainable milk’. The data of all activities are collected, analyzed and summarized in the project by TU Kaiserslautern. This allows the effects on milk yield, animal performance, CO₂e footprint and other important influencing factors to be assessed centrally. In addition, adjustments can be planned and their potential for improvement calculated, which ultimately allows the ‘more sustainable’ to be quantified.

The project aims to make data management so efficient that it can be widely used in practice. This allows greater transparency throughout the value chain, which can be a necessary basis for new marketing, pricing and business models.

The project is financed by the European Union, by the EIP (European Innovation Partnership) via the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and by the partners themselves.

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“We want to make dairy farming more sustainable and move forward. Together with our farmers, we work intensively to reduce emissions, from the farm to the supermarket shelf,” says Lillie Li Valeur, who is the CEO of Arla Foods Germany. “To this end, we are investing in extensive sustainability programs and measures along our entire value chain and have set ourselves ambitious, science-based climate targets by 2030. By 2050 we want to achieve net zero emissions. Being the only dairy company to be selected as one of the finalists in the German Sustainability Award is a great recognition and a strong incentive for our company and our Arla farmers to shape the future of a more sustainable dairy industry.”

Arla introduced annual climate checks on its dairy farms in 2020 to determine the carbon footprint. Today, Arla has the climate data (carbon footprint) for 94% of its farms, which corresponds to 98% of the milk volume. The data from the climate checks support farmers in implementing measures to reduce their carbon footprint on farms, through benchmarking with peer groups and advice from external experts. These range, for example, from optimal feeding, more sustainable arable farming, more environmentally friendly methods of manure storage and spreading to the health and longevity of the cows and the use of green electricity on the farm.

A total of 7% CO2e savings were achieved on the farms in 2021 compared to the base year 2015 (Arla Group). In summer 2023 Arla will introduce a sustainability surcharge of up to 4 eurocents per kilogram of milk for climate measures on farms in the farmers’ milk price.

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In addition, the marketing and sales departments are moving closer together in order to promote brand positioning in the best possible way.

Carolina Noske, previously head of marketing at Alpenhain, has moved to the newly created position of head of human resources, culture and change. The family company wants to develop successful measures against the increasing shortage of skilled workers, which is becoming a growing challenge for more companies.

Noske is focusing on retaining existing staff by planning to adapt structures and framework conditions and to intensify internal communication.

Stephan Hemberger, who was previously sales manager at Alpenhain, is now in charge of marketing. By bringing marketing and sales closer together, there can be closer cooperation and a more intensive exchange between the two departments in order to improve the brand positioning and address consumer needs, the company says.

Carolin Handel, who assumed overall responsibility for brand communication, and Sascha Gress, who is now in charge of private label, portfolio and innovation, have both moved to support Hemberger.

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Its processed milk volume also increased again in 2021. Overall, raw material intake increased by 4.3% year-on-year to 2.1 billion kg. Most of the raw milk (around 75%) was used to make cheese, which increased to 172,882 tons (plus 5.8%).

The production of powder amounted to 81,444 tons and thus also recorded an increase compared to the previous year (11.7%).

In other product categories, production volumes were reduced in response to market conditions. The dairy produced 166,390 tons of fresh products (down 3.7%) and 21,694 tons of butter (down 8.9%).

In order to secure the raw material basis in the coming years, Ammerland been adding new milk producers. Its average milk price rose by 12.1% to €0.3738/kg in 2021.

As in previous years, Ammerland has a solid balance sheet. Its total increased by €38.6 million or 12.9% to €338.9 million in the 2021 financial year and equity by a total of €7.9 million to €151.2 million (equity ratio: 44.6%). Net income for the year of €6.4 million and the balance sheet profit of €3.8 million are also slightly above the values of the previous year.

For the current year, Ammerland dairy expects the prices paid to its regional milk suppliers to continue to rise. The mark of €0.60/kg raw milk has already been exceeded. This development is necessary, because costs for milk producers have risen noticeably in all areas.

Milk deliveries to Ammerland are growing moderately. Due to the increased product prices for cheese, butter and drinking milk, a significant increase in sales is expected for the year as a whole. Thus, despite rising energy and raw material prices and the currently difficult global situation, Ammerland continues to expect positive business development in the current year, the company says.

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She joined FrieslandCampina in the Netherlands in 2012 as an account manager and e-commerce specialist. There she has worked in various management positions in recent years, including in sales, most recently as director of sales and trade marketing since June 2020.

FrieslandCampina Germany in Düsseldorf will in future concentrate on the marketing and distribution of its international brands Valess and Chocomel, its cheese brands (including Frico and Holland Master) and the private labels produced by FrieslandCampina abroad (such as cheese and spray cream). Large parts of the professional business with the core brand Debic remain unchanged.

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Interested market participants such as dairies, trading companies or cheese processors can now report physical prices to EEX. An index value is generated from the weekly reports.

The contracts are settled against the respective monthly EEX Cheese Index, with the contracts each comprising five tons. EEX is a part owner of the Global Dairy Trade platform, along with New Zealand’s Exchange.

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The brand has secured distribution partnerships with three of the UK’s leading dairy wholesalers; Carron Lodge, Rowcliffe and Hawkridge.

This innovative continental cooking cheese range is a great addition to the growing hot cheese category and adds something new and exciting for consumers.  

Rougette Marinated Grilling Cheese is a unique feta-style cheese made using traditional methods by Käserei Champignon, a cheese producer in Bavaria, Germany. Käserei Champignon is a family-owned company that has made the finest speciality cheeses for over 100 years.

Catherine Duffy, sales and marketing manager Elite Imports Ltd said: “We’re excited to be adding to our range of award-winning continental cheeses from our partners Kaserei Champignon. The Rougette Marinated Grilling Cheeses add an innovative and delicious twist to BBQs and summer meals which are sure to inspire consumers. 

We are supporting the launch a dedicated Rougette web presence along with a how-to-cook video to help inspire consumers.  We are planning to expand our Rougette cheese range even further as new pre-marinated flavours are being developed.”

Just in time for summer, the cheeses are perfect for accompanying a summer salad or alongside roasted meats and vegetables on the BBQ. Handily packaged in an aluminium tray, this cheese is ready to go straight on the BBQ or in the oven.

“We’re excited to see our Rougette Marinated Grilling Cheeses bring family and friends together this summer,” says Mick Acuta, sales manager at Elite Imports Ltd. “Now cheese lovers can enjoy natural, speciality cheeses in a totally new way.”

The Herb Marinade flavour was awarded 1 star at the Great Taste Awards 2021 with judges commenting that it was; “A delightfully aromatic grilling cheese…rather more approachable and easy on the palate than a traditional halloumi. Great for topping a moussaka, but also really enjoyable on crusty bread or crunchy biscuits.” 

To learn more about the Rougette range, please visit: rougette.com/en-gb

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