The comments were made at the opening of the World Dairy Summit in Dublin, which this year aims to answer whether, when push comes to shove, can the industry manage change?

Begg said that the answer would be dependent on whether both processors and farmers alike were meeting their responsibilities on how they are individually affecting the environment.

"It is the environment which, in my view, will be the major driver of the allocation of our future resources in dairying both in the nature of our products and the way we produce them," he stated.

Begg added that companies who weren't already prioritizing how they were impacting on the environment, must now do so.

"In the IDF, we must debate it, and indeed we must promote it to the top of our agenda," he stated. "It is in this arena in future, that our ability to manage change will be tested."

The summit's agenda could be prudent with processors facing increasingly high prices following adverse weather conditions that have setback milk production in key markets like New Zealand.

Though the adverse weather may in some cases be localised, the wider affects have been felt globally, particularly by processors.

In Europe alone, the average price paid to farmers for their milk is up 12 per cent on the previous year to €30.66 per 100kg, according to the latest findings by Dutch Farmers' Union (LTO).

However, Begg remained optimistic over the challenges that lie ahead, pointing to how dairy processors had already responded to the need for greater product innovation towards higher value goods with nutritional benefits,

"Butters, cheeses and milks are being supplemented by a whole new range of functional products which will drive the profitability of the industry in the future," he added.