Whether it’s a general shift in consumer preferences, the surge in widespread adoption of GLP-1 drugs in North America, and/or the growing influence of social media personalities, there is little doubt that demand for protein and protein-added products is on the rise. In response, regional marketing boards in both western and eastern Canada are changing how producers will be paid for milk components in 2026. In this blog, we break down the why and the so-what behind the ‘protein craze’ and what it means for Canadian dairy producers.
Consumers are seeking high-protein dairy in pursuit of healthy diets
Less than a decade ago, the dairy sector was in a predicament. Consumers were demanding more products high in butterfat (e.g., cream, butter). On the surface this appeared a positive development; after all, how could more demand for your products be a bad thing? The problem, though, is that at a given point in time the components of milk are structurally fixed between butterfat, protein, and other solids (OS). So, to meet that additional demand for butterfat in the short-term, more milk needed to be produced; this, however, created a surplus of the other components – namely protein – that processors and consumers didn’t want at the time. Simply put, the sector was faced with a structural surplus of protein.
In response, milk boards restructured producer pay on these individual components – placing a greater dollar value on butterfat – with the aim to incentivise farmers to produce more of it. Through changes in breeding strategies and feed rations, the industry responded. Today, the Canadian dairy herd is producing more butterfat per litre of milk than ever before. For example, in Ontario over the last six years butterfat composition has increased 0.9% per year on average. Conversely, the percentage of protein has remained flat
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