Sustainable Dairy: Trends and Growth Opportunities

Key Findings

The dairy industry is under siege, as consumers are limiting their intake of animal-based products

Over 10% of consumers across the world actively try to limit dairy intake, and this trend is gaining strength each year. While dairies are experimenting with ways to deal with the competition from substitutes, matching the health, ethical and sustainability credentials is a key challenge.

The ethical living trend in foods is set to grow in importance, and dairy is no exception

Consumers increasingly demand food that brings welfare for animals, farmers, societies and employees. The ethical living trend was introduced by generation X, lived by millennials, and is set to be furthered by generation Z as they grow into the purchasing power of adulthood. In food, the impact of ethical living can most notably be seen in dairy.

There are six key approaches to increasing the sustainability credentials of dairy products

In order to reinvigorate sales of dairy products, manufacturers are using six key approaches and labelling their brands with several ethical claims, including non-GMO, sustainable packaging, local production, farmer support, free range and organic.

Sustainability strategies should be tailored to local concerns in order to be impactful

It is important to ensure that approaches to sustainable dairy connect to the concerns of consumers locally. Although different approaches can be combined in a product, they are not effective in themselves, but only through their interaction with public discourse and consumer expectations in the market.