Following a run of impressive results, dairy cooperative Dale Farm is making a significant investment to grow even further. We caught up with Dale Farm’s Group Commercial Director Mark Boyle to talk cheese, current dairy market trends, and how the business has navigated the challenges of the past three years.
Mark Boyle joined Dale Farm as Group Commercial Director in the summer of 2021, following over 30 years of experience in leadership roles in the international food industry. A graduate of UCD’s Michael Smurfit Graduate School of business, Mark started out at Green Isle foods and spent 20 years at Kerry Foods, ultimately leading the company’s Consumer Foods business in Ireland. As Group Commercial Director, he leads Dale Farm’s commercial, innovation and marketing teams, responsible for delivering sustainable growth for the business across categories, market channels, and customers.
Three years into the role, Mark reflects on how Dale Farm has addressed the challenges industry has faced in recent times. “We have enjoyed strong business performance in the face of well documented challenges, from the pandemic to inflation and the cost-of-living crisis,” Mark said. “Navigating our way through each of these requires agility and strategic decision making, and we’re fortunate to have a strong team across the business who are passionate about Dale Farm, able to spot opportunities and have a can-do attitude. Over this period, we have performed well across our portfolio of products including cheese, beverage, ice cream, butter and spreads. Cheddar in particular has seen strong growth and is an area where we are leading the industry locally and further afield.
“Globally, the dairy market remained resilient over this period as you might expect given its key role in feeding a global world population, but there has been plenty of challenge and volatility. Demand has been relatively subdued in some dairy markets of late and supply has also disappointed so whichever of the two recovers first should shape the commodity market direction in the months ahead. That being said, from a consumer, foodservice and business to business perspective we see plenty more opportunities to continue growing our dairy business sustainably, together with our customers.”
I’m proud to work with a highly
Mark Boyle, Group Commercial Director
engaged, capable team, with a desire
for continuous improvement and strong
sense of purpose in their work.
Dale Farm recently announced a major expansion in its cheddar processing facility at Dunmanbridge, outside Cookstown. Totalling £70 million it marks one of the single biggest investments of its kind by a Northern Ireland agri-food company. Mark says the investment will boost the cooperative’s position as a leading player in the European cheddar market. “We are already exporting cheddar to 40 countries worldwide thanks to our reputation for quality, consistency, and sustainability. We have experienced years of impressive, sustained growth in our cheddar business. This investment is about building on that momentum and enabling us to grow with our customers in retail, foodservice and B2B worldwide.
“As well as improving and replacing existing equipment, we are introducing a new high speed automated cheese line, increased warehouse footprint and investment in new patented products and processes. We have a patent granted for cheddar produced at Dunman and we are always innovating. Overall, the plans will increase our capacity by 20,000 tonnes per year. With the introduction of new production processes coupled with energy efficient technologies we are also reducing our carbon footprint at the site by some 4,500 tonnes per year when compared against milk powder production.”
Mark says the secret to the cooperative’s success, and ability to make this level of investment, is strategic planning backed by a strong team. “I’m proud to work with a highly engaged, capable team, with a desire for continuous improvement and strong sense of purpose in their work. It is thanks to the cross functional teamwork approach across the business that we continue to lead the sector. Through our people’s combined efforts and the success of our strategy as a group we are in a position to make an investment of this scale, while continuing to pay a competitive milk price to the farmers who own the business and supply us with milk.”