The dairy industry is constantly evolving. In order to survive and thrive in the future, one needs to be aware of the new trends that will likely impact the future production of consumption of dairy products.
Here are some of the trends that are particularly interesting.
Sustainable Food
By 2050, global population will be approaching 9 - 10 billion. The dairy industry will play a very important role in producing enough food for the global population. As of now, the global population stands at approximately 7.5 billion. Out of those, roughly 2 billion of them are either obese or overweight. A further 1.5 billion suffer from hunger and malnutrition.
The challenge would be to produce food sustainably for the global population in the future. Several dairy companies are already looking for ways to produce milk in an environmentally friendly way. This will be in line with the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
A Shift Towards Healthy Lifestyle
There seems to be a trend towards seeking a more natural and healthy food by the current millennial generation. This is true for both developed and developing countries.
Some of the trends include research into the role of the gut microbiome in health. Innovation in this particular area focuses on the role of probiotics and how they can help with weight management, improve general health and reduce heart diseases.
Increased In Transparency
There is a global shift towards consumers demanding transparency across food chains and consumers access to information about companies they buy from. Consumers are also expecting companies to provide nutritional label information as well as sourcing and labour policy.
At the same time, technology is improve at such a pace that allows company to improve their supply chain management by using IoT (Internet of Things), data sensors and data analytics.
A Circular Economy
Globally, about a third of food is wasted. Governments around the world are putting in effort to try to tackle this issue. For example, the US government has recently committed to a first ever national food waste reduction goal, calling for 50% reduction by 2030.
As land becomes scarcer, there is an increasing competition for food and drinks by-products. This will result in companies taking an interest in creating a more circular economy within the food sector as the repurposing of food waste opens up to another channel of revenue stream.
A Net Positive Approach To The Dairy Industry
Due to the scarcity of land available, there is a tremendous amount of pressure on land to provide enough food, fuel and fibres for the growing population worldwide. At the same time however, many supporting key ecosystem supporting the dairy industry are declining such as degrading soil quality, water stress and so on. All of these are partly due to climate change.
Moving from beyond a farm-by-farm based approach to agricultural sustainability to a more holistic landscape approach is gaining momentum. This approach allows businesses to restore local ecosystems within specific location whilst also improving livelihood of the community around it. Businesses globally are recognising the importance of creating a 'net positive' to the ecosystem and this will help us achieve a 1.5 °C world.