Arla Foods developments

The deputy chief executive at Arla Foods UK, Hanne Sondergaard, is to take charge of milk procurement and the company is to increase its organic milk production, the dairy group has said.

Sondergaard will oversee the buying in of milk from UK farmers in addition to maintaining her executive role at the company. She replaces Peter Walker, who will retire from his role and leave Arla Foods UK next month.
In connected news, the company is increasing its organic production in Denmark as increasing numbers of milk producers have expressed an interest in switching to organic production.
Consumption of organic dairy products in a number of Arla Foods’ key markets in Europe, including Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Germany, is on the increase. Consequently, earlier this summer, Arla Foods asked its conventional milk producers in Denmark to consider switching to organic production. In Sweden, where there is a shortage of organic milk, the recruitment of new organic suppliers began some years ago. A similar recruitment process is now beginning in Denmark.
Arla Foods estimates that over the next few years the company will require a further 75 million kg organic milk over and above the approximate 300 million kg per annum that Arla Foods currently receives in Denmark.
As it will take two years to switch from conventional to organic production, the recruitment of new Danish organic producers will begin as soon as possible. Thirty-five Arla Foods milk producers, which together account for an annual milk volume of 37 million kg, have so far registered their interest in becoming organic.