A round-up of the week’s key events in the dairy sector in Ukraine and around the world 👇
📉 UDEU Analytics: Ukraine’s dairy cow herd falls 18.1% year-on-year to 926,000 head
Household farms keep abandoning cows en masse (−28.7%), while enterprises posted their first herd growth in years (+2.6%).
🕰️ Back to the future: would 1980s dairy farmers even recognize today’s industry?
US dairy now produces 76% more milk with fewer cows, as robotics, beef-on-dairy income and component pricing reshape the farmgate.
🧪 Taste and texture: 7 formulation challenges for plant-based meat and dairy
Plant-based meat and dairy have come a long way, but recreating a meat- or dairy-like character without animal ingredients remains hard — and scaling up successes to manufacturing brings its own difficulties.
🛒 Europeans grow more confident in food choices but doubt the information around them, EIT Food report finds
The share of consumers who feel able to make good choices has risen to 66%, yet fewer than half consider food information reliable — with the most doubt over sustainability.
🤝 FrieslandCampina takes majority stake in Indonesian peer Ultrajaya Milk
The Dutch cooperative folds its Indonesian unit Frisian Flag Indonesia into Ultrajaya and gains a majority in the company, founded in 1971.
🏭 Nestlé says there has been no «change of ownership» in russia — despite kremlin asset seizure
putin signed a decree putting Nestlé russia under state administration, but the local subsidiary says the move is neither nationalisation nor a change of owner.
🥛 Happy World School Milk Day!
30 September is the day the world pauses to remember how much a glass of milk matters for a child’s health, learning and future.
📊 UDEU Analytics: Ukraine’s milk production falls 12.7% year-on-year to 4.1 million tonnes
Household farms cut output by more than a quarter (−27.0%), while enterprises grew production by 5.0%.
📈 Growth of 10%: EU steps up export volumes to Ukraine so far this year
EU agri-food trade stays solid in 2026, with the surplus climbing to €30.1bn for January–July and exports to Ukraine up €239 million.
🇺🇦 Happy Defenders Day of Ukraine!
Today, 1 October, is the day the whole country thanks those who defend our land, our industry, and our right to a glass of Ukrainian milk on the table every morning.
🇪🇺 Ukraine among four countries EU may fast-track into the single market ahead of accession
A draft European Commission review proposes «gradual integration» into the EU single market for candidates who align with the bloc’s foreign policy.
🏆 UDEU Analytics: Enterprises overtake households in Ukraine’s milk production for the first time in recent years
Over the first 8 months of 2026, enterprises’ share of total milk production rose to 53.9% — overtaking household farms’ share, which fell to 46.1%, for the first time.
🍼 EU school scheme: 107 million litres of milk for children in a year, and a mandatory model for the next budget
In the 2024/25 school year, pupils in more than 143,000 EU schools received 107 million litres of milk, 2,620 tonnes of cheese and 61,570 tonnes of fruit and vegetables.
