Arla Foods has approved a record €296 million supplementary payment to its farmer owners, marking the largest payout in the cooperative’s history as profitability strengthened in 2025. The decision reflects improved earnings across the group and reinforces Arla’s cooperative model of returning value directly to milk producers.
The payout, approved by Arla’s Board of Representatives, translates to 2.2 eurocents per kilogram of milk delivered by farmer owners. The total sum also includes interest on individual contributed capital, pushing returns above the minimum level guaranteed under the cooperative’s retainment policy.
Brandspur Banking News Desk reports that the payment is designed to balance immediate financial rewards for farmers with Arla’s longer-term priorities, including reinvestment in farm resilience, productivity improvements and sustainability-linked initiatives across its supply base.
Chair of Arla, Jan Toft Nørgaard, said the historic payout underlines the cooperative’s financial strength and stability, despite ongoing cost pressures within the global dairy sector. He noted that the supplementary payment is intended to help farmers continue developing their operations, invest in sustainable practices and maintain local milk production across Arla’s core markets.
Arla’s farmer owners are spread across Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The cooperative said the strong result demonstrates its ability to deliver competitive returns while safeguarding future investments needed to support climate targets and supply chain efficiency.
The dairy group, which owns well-known brands such as Lurpak, Castello and Puck, remains a major force in the international dairy market and is recognised as the world’s largest producer of organic dairy products.
Arla added that the record supplementary payment reflects sustained demand for dairy products globally and highlights its strategy of aligning farmer rewards with cooperative growth, financial discipline and long-term sustainability objectives.
