In its fourth season, Sabancı Foundation’s Turkey’s Changemakers Program continues to share the unique stories of extraordinary people who contribute to social development. With 1870 members in 63 villages, this week’s Changemaker is the Tire Milk Cooperative who produced the first organic pasteurized milk in Turkey.

Tire Milk Cooperative was established 46 years ago but it was not working efficiently until the last decade. It could only collect and process milk from a few producers. However, it has become a successful model cooperative in Turkey thanks to its achievements in the last 10 years. With their motto “from producer to consumer”, the cooperative receives 150 tons of milk from 50 thousand cows and contributes to the income of the villagers. The villagers, who are members of this cooperative living in Tire, a town in the Aegean province of İzmir, deliver their fresh milk every day to the cooperative. They also obtain farm machinery, feed, and oil for tractors at a discounted rate from the cooperative.

The Cooperative produced the first organic pasteurized milk in Turkey

All of the processes in Tire Milk Cooperative from milking to storage and cooling are performed mechanically. As the producer of Turkey’s first organic pasteurized milk, Tire Milk Cooperative also sells organic cheese, organic ayran (a salty yogurt drink), and meat products in three shops of the cooperative and two big market chains in İzmir.

The most useful service of the Cooperative is “500 18 18 Milk Service” in which the customers can have fresh milk delivered directly.