Here at Arla we strive to be responsible and open-minded to your needs and ideas. We aim to make the most out of milk to help you make the most out of life - throughout life. A cooperative dairy company You may not know this, but Arla Foods is a cooperative owned by 13.500 dairy farmers. The cooperative ethos means we all work together to continuously create something stronger and better, for the benefit of our farmer owners. This principle has always been at the heart of everything we do and it is why we are still here today, and going strong, over 100 years after Arla first started. HISTORY Way back in the 1880’s, dairy farmers in Denmark and Sweden formed small cooperatives to invest in common dairy production facilities. By doing this they made efficient use of their milk and higher quality products. The earnings they made from their milk were equally split between the dairy farmers and together they built a good future for themselves and the next generation on their farm. Over the years, the cooperative idea proved increasingly attractive. Small farmer cooperatives merged and became stronger. They expanded from local to regional to national cooperatives. In 2000, the largest Danish dairy cooperative merged with its Swedish counterpart and Arla Foods, the first cross-border dairy cooperative, was formed. The cooperative idea also flourished in other countries and through recent mergers cooperative owners in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg have joined Arla Foods. And we will continue to grow stronger...