Description
The seven farms in the small cooperative ‘Sju Gårdar’ sell organic milk products under their own label to meet the market and consumers. The development of this added-value concept started in 2008, with locally produced, organic and climate-certified products as key marketing concepts. An important prerequisite for market success is proximity to a large city. Another positive consequence of proximity to the city is the possibility to arrange study visits for students from different schools and universities to increase consumers´ knowledge step by step. However, the farmer also reported specific challenges with farming close to the city, e.g. with transport and the risk of sabotage. In Sweden, there is a growing number of animal rights activists, or what some would call terrorists, and many farmers have been threatened in different ways. The slightly higher milk price achieved by Sju Gårdar also has a cost, in the form of much work in selling and distributing the various products; milk, yoghurt, fermented milk, crème, crème fraiche and sour crème. The products are processed by other companies, but it is both essential and advantageous to have the possibility to sell any surplus to the larger company, especially in the starting-up phase.
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