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Creating the Future of Dairy
Creating the Future of Dairy is the plan that brought Arla Foods and Germany's DMK Group together as one farmer-owned cooperative. On 8 April 2025 the chairs and chief executives of both groups signed a declaration of intent, announcing a merger of more than 12,000 farmer owners and about €19 billion in combined revenue. It built on years of working side by side, including the ArNoCo joint venture. The new company would keep the Arla name and its headquarters in Viby J, Denmark. Because both businesses are owned by their farmers, the plan had to win their votes as well as regulators' approval. The two groups published a merger brochure setting out the rationale, the governance model and how farmer democracy would work in the combined cooperative. On 18 June 2025 the boards of representatives of Arla, DMK and DOC Kaas approved it, with Arla's board voting 185 to 1. After a review covering 13 jurisdictions, the European Commission cleared the deal unconditionally in Phase 1 on 28 May 2026. The merger took effect on 1 June 2026. The combined cooperative has about 11,200 farmers, 28,800 colleagues, a milk pool of 19.4 billion kilograms and pro forma revenue above €20 billion. Day One was marked with celebrations and a global town hall webcast. DMK GmbH became an Arla subsidiary. On 30 June the DMK eG and DOC members voted in Hannover to merge into a European Cooperative Society, which then folds into Arla over a two-year transition, so that every member farmer becomes an owner of Arla.
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