Tine ba

• Voluntary and open membership
• Democratic control by the membership
• The financial participation of members
• Autonomy and independence
• Training, education and information
• Cooperation between cooperative societies
• Social responsibility

The TINE cooperative is based on the principles of cooperatives:

A cooperative is an organisational form similar to other company forms. A cooperative is the most effective organisation for many small companies that need to perform certain tasks together. It looks after the interests of its members as purchasers and sellers of goods and services.

• The advantage for the owners is guaranteed milk sales to a modern industry that works to achieve the highest possible payment for the raw ingredient and democratic control over the company.
• The advantage for the industry is stable, long-term ownership.

In a cooperative, the owners receive part of the profit based on the sales that they have made, not a return on invested capital. It is the farmers’ milk deliveries that form the basis for running TINE cooperatively.

Rausjødalen Setermeieri is both Norway’s and northern Europe’s oldest cooperative dairy, and Europe’s first communal dairy north of the Alps. Rausjødalen Setermeieri is regarded as the birthplace of TINE and laid the foundations for the development of the dairy cooperative in Norway.

In a cooperative, the owners receive their share of the profits through the payment they receive for the milk they supply. Each member owns one share in TINE. TINE currently has around 11,400 members (owners) and 9,000 cooperative farms.