# Bega Group asks Atherton Tablelands farmers to lift milk deliveries by 20-30% for Malanda factory

> Bega Group wants Atherton Tablelands farmers to raise milk deliveries by 20-30%, lifting annual supply from 30 million to 35-40 million litres for its Malanda factory.

- Published: 2026-10-28T23:30:15+00:00
- Section: Expansion
- Author: News Desk
- URL: https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-10-28/bega-group-more-milk-atherton-tablelands
- Source: [ABC](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-29/bega-group-request-more-milk-for-far-north-queensland-farmers/107317502)

## Key takeaways

- Bega Group wants Atherton Tablelands farmers to increase deliveries to its Malanda factory by 20 to 30 per cent.
- The company currently takes about 30 million litres a year from the tablelands and aims for 35 to 40 million litres.
- Bega plans a new cold chain storage in Cairns holding about 50 per cent more milk than its current Malanda site.

[Bega Group](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/0006ov7/bega-group) has asked Atherton Tablelands dairy farmers to lift deliveries to its Malanda factory by 20 to 30 per cent, aiming to raise annual supply from about 30 million litres to 35 to 40 million litres. [ABC](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-29/bega-group-request-more-milk-for-far-north-queensland-farmers/107317502) reported the request on October 29, 2026.

## Bega's Malanda Supply Push

Bega Group is one of Australia's largest dairy processors, and its chief executive, Pete Findlay, said the company gets about 30 million litres a year from tablelands farmers. "We'd love to take that to sort of 35 or 40 [million]," Findlay said. Seasonal disruptions can force Bega to bring in 1 million to 2 million litres of milk a year from Victoria to keep the Malanda factory operating, and sourcing more locally would reduce reliance on transport from the southern state.

Findlay said Bega had substantially increased the price it paid farmers over the past four years and introduced incentives to encourage milk production. "We think it's a really viable industry for farmers to be involved in and we're hoping that the farming community can respond," he said. Eric Danzi, chief executive of dairy advocacy group [eastAUSmilk](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/00srpbp/eastausmilk), welcomed the request but said growing production by 20 per cent would probably need a price increase of at least 10 cents a litre, starting with reintroducing the 5-cents-a-litre diesel levy withdrawn about a month earlier.

Bega also announced it is building a new cold chain storage in Cairns that would hold about 50 per cent more milk than its current site at Malanda. Findlay said the company had at times shipped milk from Far North Queensland to Brisbane because it ran out of space at Malanda. The storage site was expected to be built next year.

## Bega's Dairy Scale

According to akta.pro [company records](https://akta.pro/company-data), dairy products contribute $3.5 billion in annual revenue and Bega sources milk from around 600 farms around Australia. The company reported first half FY26 revenue of $1.87 billion, a 5 per cent increase year-on-year, and a $52 million profit, up 45 per cent. Bega was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Bega, Australia.

## Bega's Recent Moves

In October 2026, Bega reaffirmed FY27 normalised EBITDA guidance of $240-$245 million and committed $110 million to capacity expansion, with projects in yoghurt, cream cheese and milk-based beverages due online in FY28, Food & Drink Business reported. In August 2026, The Australian reported Bega's full-year profits rose 35.8 per cent to $69 million, driven by cost reductions from shutting a Victorian cheese factory and strong demand for value products. In June 2026, ABC reported that Kingaroy-based Crumpton Group acquired two peanut processing sites in Queensland, in Kingaroy and Tolga, from Bega Group in September, months after Bega's exit from the peanut industry.

## Cairns Storage Timeline

The new cold chain storage in Cairns is expected to be built next year, Bega said.

## Companies in this story

- [Bega Group company profile](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/0006ov7/bega-group) · website: https://begagroup.com.au
- [eastAUSmilk company profile](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/00srpbp/eastausmilk) · website: https://eastausmilk.org.au

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