First Milk's Impact Director, Dr Fiona Roberts, analyses how boom-bust cycles, volatility across farmer contracts and a rise in protein demand have made 2026 a bumpy ride for UK dairy.
Few sectors illustrate climate and market volatility as vividly as British milk right now. In under a year, the industry has swung from crippling oversupply and collapsing prices to a supply squeeze driven by record heat – while, underneath both stories, a steady shift in consumer demand toward protein is quietly reshaping what growth looks like in dairy.
Strong prices in early 2025 (45.6p/litre in January, the best milk-to-feed ratio since 2007) supported increased output. Production rose around 5% over the year, with a record 39 million litres tankered in a single day in May. That growth, replicated across Europe, the US and Oceania, created a "wall of milk". Wholesale butter and cheddar prices collapsed through autumn, and from October processors began cutting farmgate prices repeatedly – some non-aligned contracts fell below 30p/litre, with spot milk dipping under 20p in places. Industry averages that were above 46p in September 2025 had fallen to around 34p by year end, a contraction of roughly a quarter. The pain landed hardest on farmers outside retailer-aligned contracts or without system bonuses, where the gap between best and worst deals widened to as much as 16p a litre.
Just as the sector braced for the 2026 spring flush, three heatwaves – in May, June and July, each pushing UK temperatures above 35°C for the first time – knocked an estimated 18.5 million litres off GB production. Heat stress causes cows to eat and rest less, cutting yields and components; the most severe spell, a record 37.7°C in late June, pushed output nearly 3% below the five-year average at its peak.
The market reaction was immediate: spot prices, which had been trading below 20p, recovered to between 38p and 48p. It's a striking demonstration of how thin the buffer is between glut and shortage – a few weeks of extreme weather flipped Europe's dairy balance from surplus to short-term deficit. Whether it holds is uncertain: global production elsewhere remains strong and butter stocks are still elevated, so this looks like a genuine climate shock layered on top of unresolved structural oversupply, but possibly not a lasting recovery.
While commodity markets have been thrown around by supply and weather, protein has grown steadily throughout. UK shoppers are increasingly prioritising protein – driven by social media, scepticism of ultra-processed food and rising GLP-1 medication use pushing people toward satiating, nutrient-dense foods. Cottage cheese sales have surged more than 50% year-on-year in some readings; skyr, kefir and high-protein cheese snacks have followed suit. High-protein milk is growing in value and volume even as standard milk stays flat, and whole milk is benefitting from a related "naturalness" halo.
This matters for an industry buffeted by commodity cycles: protein-forward products carry better margins and genuine brand loyalty, rather than being sold as an undifferentiated commodity exposed to spot-market swings.
Against this volatile backdrop, the question of resilience and those production methods that can deliver long-term safeguards and improvements becomes ever more important. The term "regenerative" has gained market traction in recent years and represents something of a move away from carbon "tunnel vision" to a system aimed at delivering a range of nature benefits. However, regenerative farming must be a structural response rather than simply a marketing label.
The approach typically rests on five core principles: livestock integration, minimising soil disturbance, protecting the soil surface, encouraging plant diversity and maintaining living roots.
The resilience argument is directly relevant here: by reducing dependence on external inputs like fertiliser and imported feed, regenerative production can leave farms less exposed to global price swings – and arguably better placed to withstand climate shocks like this summer's heatwaves, given its emphasis on soil health, water retention and grazing management.
Over and above mitigation of negatives, regenerative interventions have the potential to deliver positives through carbon sequestration. With the recent publication of the Land Sector Removals Standard and associated guidance, this offers a realistic mechanism by which businesses can reach their Scope 3 FLAG (Forest, Land & Agriculture) reduction targets – arguably the most challenging element of SBTi commitments.
UK dairy in 2026 is defined by three threads: acute exposure to boom-bust cycles, with a genuine climate event briefly reversing an entrenched oversupply crisis; volatility landing unevenly across farmer contracts; and protein demand quietly proving one of the few reliable growth engines in the category. Regenerative farming doesn't solve oversupply – no amount of soil health offsets a global glut of milk powder – but it's a considered bet that farm-level resilience matters when the next shock, whether price crash or heatwave, inevitably arrives.