The European Dairy Association’s latest Dairy Flash covers Ukraine’s dairy-sector EU integration, its annual convention in Bratislava with a dedicated Ukraine session, and other news from Europe’s «lactosphère».

The European Dairy Association (EDA) has published the latest issue of its Dairy Flash bulletin (No. 11/2026), covering Ukraine’s dairy-sector integration into the EU market, its annual convention in Bratislava and other European industry news, EDA reports.

Ukraine: dairy-sector EU integration

Ukraine’s new Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Taras Vysotskyi, told AgroPortal.ua that a key priority is to open negotiations on the agricultural chapter of Ukraine’s EU accession. 

He said the updated EU–Ukraine Association Agreement provides a clear roadmap requiring production standards to be implemented by the end of 2028, and highlighted future access to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). 

«The agricultural sector is going through a very important stage of European integration… we are following this path», he said. 

EDA says it continues to drive Ukraine’s dairy integration into the EU market, working with its Ukrainian partner the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine (UDEU) and the UA Dairy Integration Committee, chaired by Oleksandr Avramuk (CEO, Lactalis Ukraine).

EDA Annual Convention 2026 and a farmer exchange

The EDA Annual Convention runs 14–16 October 2026 in Bratislava, with the Slovak Dairy Association (SMZ) and ASSIFONTE, under Slovak Agriculture Minister Richard Takáč. 

The motto is «European Dairy: Local Roots and Global Competitiveness», and the programme includes a «Ukraine Dairy» session, a McKinsey talk and a Tetra Pak presentation, plus the launch of a «Women in Dairy» network. 

Separately, EDA highlighted a next-generation exchange: Danish Dairy Board president and Arla board member Steen Nørgaard Madsen hosted young Normandy farmer Robin Goron for a summer internship — «a highly enriching experience», Goron said, as he aims to take over his family farm.

FAO leadership and the Global Dairy Platform

EU Ambassador to the Holy See Martin Selmayr urged the EU to unite behind a single candidate for FAO Director-General in 2027. The EU candidates are Phil Hogan (Ireland), Maurizio Martina (Italy) and Luis Planas (Spain), and a European win would return FAO’s leadership to Europe for the first time since 1975. 

EDA also reaffirmed its partnership with the Global Dairy Platform (GDP), aimed at strengthening how dairy is represented in the food-systems debate and how it contributes to nutrition, health, sustainable food systems and communities.

Arsen Didur, Executive Director of the UDEU, and Andriy Tabalov, a member of the UDEU Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of the ‘Voloshkove Pole’ Dairy Company, have also been invited to take part in the conference.

Source: EDA — Dairy Flash #11/2026