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Consumers, brands and category growth, as seriously as production.

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Protein, gut health, cultured dairy, provenance, premium pricing, retail and foodservice. The consumer analysis, the brand and packaging partners, and the rooms where category conversations happen.

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What shoppers are moving towards.

Market

Cheddar rises 9% in a month and still trails the milk price

What changed
Mild Cheddar gained £270 a tonne in September, more than any other product AHDB tracks, and cheese is back above butter and powder at the factory gate.
Why it matters
The October milk price rises were announced weeks before that figure was published, and AHDB says Cheddar prices remain too low to cover them.
What to watch
Whether November milk price announcements move again before the next AHDB wholesale assessment, and whether contract cheese prices follow the spot trades.

Members · Analysis · 29 September 2026

Regulation

The invoice arrives this autumn. Nobody can tell you what it says.

What changed
Year-two extended producer responsibility is priced on recyclability, and the confirmed fees are not published until November.
Why it matters
Packaging with missing recyclability data is rated red by default, so 100 tonnes rated red for want of an assessment costs £13,000 more than the same tonnage rated green.
What to watch
PackUK's confirmed year-two fees and the first Notice of Liability, both due by the end of November.

Members · Analysis · 22 September 2026

Analysis

The next dairy growth story is cultured

What changed
Why cultured dairy is moving beyond the protein number toward fermentation, texture and everyday usefulness
Why it matters
With protein claims now table stakes, fermentation expertise and culture-led texture will decide which dairy businesses keep shoppers.

Analysis · 16 July 2026

Intelligence

Consumer, brand and category analysis.

Independent pieces on consumer trends, health and nutrition, premiumisation, retail and NPD. Filter by topic.

Members · Analysis · 10 min read

Cheddar rises 9% in a month and still trails the milk price

Mild Cheddar rose 9% in September, taking a litre made into Cheddar and whey to 39.08 pence and putting cheese back above butter and powder at the factory gate, but the October milk price rises were announced weeks before that figure was published, and AHDB says Cheddar prices remain too low to cover them.

29 September 2026

Members · Analysis · 7 min read

The invoice arrives this autumn. Nobody can tell you what it says.

The most expensive packaging decision available to a mid-sized processor this year is not a material decision at all: packaging with missing recyclability data is rated red, so 100 tonnes rated red by default rather than by design costs £13,000 more than the same tonnage rated green — larger than the gap between a realistic pack mix and a perfect one.

22 September 2026

Yoghurt bowls topped with berries, kiwi, granola and chia seeds on pink

Members · Analysis · 4 min read

The next dairy growth story is cultured

With protein claims now table stakes, fermentation expertise and culture-led texture will decide which dairy businesses keep shoppers.

16 July 2026

Close-up of a screen showing volatile red and green financial trend lines

Members · Analysis · 4 min read

2026 the volatility year

2026 will not be the recovery year the sector expected but the year that resets it, splitting shoppers into clearer tiers and leaving mainstream Cheddar the most exposed.

27 April 2026

Brief · 2 min read

The three numbers in your packaging budget are last year's

Year-two EPR resets the rate and starts charging on recyclability, so the number worth working out this month is not tonnage times rate but the red, amber and green split — and how much of the red is red only because an assessment was never submitted.

21 September 2026

Three men holding a trophy and rosette at the Cheese Dairy Deli Expo awards backdrop

News · 2 min read

ICDA 2026: the retail and foodservice winners at a glance

Waitrose & Partners dominated the 2026 retail titles with six categories, while Booths claimed Supreme Cheese Retailer.

26 June 2026

Chunks of crumbled white feta cheese on a blue-grey plate

Members · Analysis · 3 min read

FETA PDO: provenance the buyer can verify

With speciality cheese outgrowing the category and feta supply tightening, buyers should secure genuine PDO product early rather than treat it as a commodity.

19 June 2026

Wheels of cheese maturing on wooden shelves in a stone-walled ageing cellar

Members · Analysis · 3 min read

The artisan advantage

Farmhouse and artisan cheesemakers punch far above their tonnage, defining reputation and premium value the wider dairy sector should treat as strategic.

19 June 2026

Woman scooping chocolate protein powder from a tub beside a measuring shaker

Members · Analysis · 11 min read

The whey forward 2026/27

UK and Irish producers who commit whey-processing capex before 2028 will capture premium margin for a decade, while those still exporting raw whey watch the value accrue elsewhere.

24 April 2026

Wegovy injectable weight-loss pen lying on a plain white surface

Members · Analysis · 6 min read

GLP-1, protein and dairy's opportunity

As GLP-1 users prioritise nutritional density, dairy's high-quality protein becomes a real advantage if the sector repositions its messaging.

13 March 2026

Dairy Forum Ireland: a platform for a new era of Irish dairy

News · 4 min read

Dairy Forum Ireland: a platform for a new era of Irish dairy

Dairy Forum Ireland is positioned to give Irish producers the visibility, buyer access and export readiness needed to compete internationally.

11 February 2026

Wood-fired pizza with peppers on a peel before a flaming oven

Members · Analysis · 3 min read

Pizza hasn't peaked. Our interpretation of it has.

Pizza should be treated as a system to be engineered around cheese performance and provenance, not a mature category defended on price.

2 February 2026

All Protein & Nutrition analysis →

Expertise

Brand, packaging and distribution partners.

From the Dairy Connect Partner Directory, matched on expertise. Ordered by match, then by profile completeness, then alphabetically. Never by payment.

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Events

Is this worth your time?

London · October 2027

Dairy Forum London

Relevant to

Leadership & Strategy, Commercial & Sales, Marketing & Brand, Retail & Foodservice

Why attend

One evening, one panel, five questions. The things the industry keeps arguing about, put to the people who decide them.

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GROW by Dairy Connect

When the brand is not the whole answer.

In GROW, brand work sits beside market readiness and retail listing. An offer the operation cannot supply is a campaign, not growth.

GROW

Brand and proposition

Build a clear position around the product's quality, provenance, purpose and value, then turn it into messaging, content and market-facing activity.

GROW

Marketing and commercial strategy

Define the opportunity, understand the customer and focus resources on the channels and activity most likely to produce a commercial return.

GROW

Retail listing consultancy

Strengthen the buyer proposition, pricing story and presentation while ensuring the business is operationally and technically prepared to win, and to service, a listing.

How GROW works

Not quite your role?

Nine roles, each with its own route. Or tell us what you are trying to solve and we will point you to the right people.

Explore by roleSpeak to the team