Protein Is Driving Market, Farm to Table

A Dairy Herd Management article

Walk into any dairy industry meeting in 2026 and you’ll hear the same word repeated like a mantra: Protein. Protein. Protein.

“I want health, wellness and functionality. I want to build muscle mass,” Michael Dykes, president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association says. “Fitness center traffic is up. People want to live longer. They want to build muscle. That protein plays well for dairy.”

But here’s what’s remarkable: This protein obsession isn’t just changing what consumers buy — it’s fundamentally restructuring how milk is valued, how farms breed cows, how processors design plants and where billions of investment dollars flow.

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