Arla Farmer-Owned Cooperative
What does it mean to be owned by our dairy farmers? And how does it benefit you as a consumer?.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE FARMER-OWNED?
Arla Foods is a global dairy company and cooperative owned by over 9000 dairy farmers with over 2000 of whom are British. Our cooperative roots go all the way back to the 1880s, and our structure means that we work together to create a sustainable long term future for the dairy industry. Our farmer ownership means that all of Arla’s profits go back to our farmer owners, and that the owners take an active part in deciding how we grow and develop our business.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR ME OF PURCHASING PRODUCTS FROM A FARMER-OWNED BUSINESS?
When you buy our products, all Arla’s profits go directly back to our farmer owners, not to shareholders or private owners. If you want to support our owners, choose products with our farmer owned marque – or any other product from Arla Foods.
HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOUR MILK IS OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY?
To ensure all of our products are of the best quality, our farmers have to make sure the milk they supply meets our high standards. One way they do this is by adhering to our farm quality programme Arlagården®. The programme is run in conjunction with Red Tractor and introduces a further sixteen standards that further ensures that the milk is produced in a sustainable way and from cows that are well looked after
DO ARLA FARMER OWNERS HAVE A SAY IN COMPANY DECISION MAKING?
Because Arla is owned by dairy farmers, there are 15 farmer owners on Arla’s Board and 179 farmers on the Board of Representatives. These are elected through a democratic process, where every farmer owner has one vote.
The Board of Representatives decides the pricing model which the Arla Board uses when it agrees what it can pay out as a milk price each month. Because our farmers’ milk is sold across the world, the milk price reflects changing market conditions and fluctuates according to global market conditions.
WILL THE FARMER OWNERS BENEFIT FROM GOOD MARKET CONDITIONS IN THE UK OR EUROPE?
Arla farmer owners have agreed to equally share the earnings from all that we produce and sell. This is one of the core principles on which our cooperative model is based – Arla farmers stand together in good and bad times and they share the profits and losses from all markets.
AS A CONSUMER HOW CAN I HELP FARMERS?
You can choose to buy products from a company that gives the profit back to the farmers. When you buy a product from Arla, you can rest assured that all our profits go back to our farmer owners to help create long term sustainable milk production. Choose products with our farmer owned marque – or any other product from Arla.