Attached to our countryside by their territorial roots, dairy cooperatives act daily in favor of the vitality of our territory through their sustainable footprint at the economic, social, environmental or gastronomic level. Belonging to their own producers, these companies work from collecting milk to processing it into dairy products. Meeting with Jean Michel Javelle, farmer in Saint-Jean-de-Bonnefond and president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes dairy cooperatives.
More than a hundred years ago, to face the difficulties of their trades and their environment, milk producers decided to pool their capital, and the fruit of their labor. This is how dairy cooperatives were born. In 2021, these destinies united in a solidarity and mutualist organization, defend a non-relocatable model, economically engaged in their territory, creator of lasting jobs, an infinite source for our local and responsible consumption.
Every day, in our magnificent region endowed with mountains and plains, no less than 108 cooperatives – mostly very small and medium-sized enterprises, work to produce cow, goat and sheep milk and transform it into one of the most beautiful platters of IGP and PDO cheeses, in organic products and other infant milks. Ranked 4th among dairy regions at the national level, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes has more than 3,350 direct local jobs and a large network of local partners.
Dynamic and committed, dairy cooperatives are also working to meet the challenges of tomorrow, to meet consumer expectations in terms of transparency on product quality and to welcome new generations of producers and employees. These long-term cooperatives have so much to offer us …
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