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It’s been a bruising 12 months for British dairy. Few could have predicted quite how perfect a storm would hit the industry: a stagnating Chinese market, Russia’s ban on EU dairy imports, the end of quotas and an extraordinarily challenging retail climate have all converged to put pressure on prices and margins. It’s no surprise we are once again seeing farmer protests.

It’s been a time of dramatic change at boardroom level, too. There only a few dairy companies that haven’t seen changes to their senior management teams over the past 12 months. This has contributed to the overall sense of upheaval in the sector, but is also opening up new opportunities. The new recruits into dairy have an appetite for change and are bringing in bright ideas from other sectors – just what dairy needs to ensure future growth.

In our The Dairymen supplement, out this week, we take a look at the new power players in UK dairy and ask whether a new breed of dairy boss is what is needed to return the sector to stability and growth.

We also have exclusive interviews with two of the biggest new names to come into UK dairy over the past year: Arla’s Peter Giørtz-Carlsen and Müller Dairy’s Bergen Merey.

As a special preview, The Grocer members can read our interview with Merey and why he believes a new approach to dairy innovation is needed.

Innovation is, of course, not limited to large processors. UK dairy is blessed with great entrepreneurial talent from farmers turned artisan cheesemakers to visionary yoghurt brands. And brands – both big and small – are starting to make headway on exports, an area offering plenty of opportunity for growth. The Dairymen this year is taking a close look at both, including our pick of the brightest entrepreneurs making waves in UK dairy today, and an extensive Q&A on exports with Dairy Crest’s Mark Allen, Judith Bryans of Dairy UK and Ed Salt of Delamere Dairy, among others.

As always, we will be releasing some of these features ahead of publication for The Grocer members – including some fabulous ideas for dairy products for the over-60s developed for us by brand agency Bluemarlin. So make sure you don’t miss out on our in-depth insight into the talent, opportunities and trends set to make and shape the industry over the next 12 months.

Keep an eye on the dedicated The Dairymen section of our website, and let us know what you think on Twitter by tweeting to @thegrocer using the hashtag #dairymen.

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