Danish Dairy Started the Organic Revolution

The Danish co-operative dairy, Thise, is the example of how the idealistic ideas of organic dairy products developed into being a very affordable business.

Being founded in 1988, where the organic share of the Danish market was less than 1%, Thise started the first organic revolution. Back when the 8 dairy farmers formed the co-operative, organic food production was regarded too expensive and slow and was a fairly unusual way of producing food.

In the first years of their existence, Thise battled with weak sales and small revenues. Several of the largest supermarket chains in Denmark already had cooperation agreements with larger dairies that were non-organic, but once they received a large order in 1993 from the Danish cooperative, FDB, organic products on a large scale became available for the customers. Ever since, the organic market share has expanded and so has Thise’s revenue. In 2024, Thise had 256 employees, and their annual revenue in 2022 was around 1.33 billion DKK with more than 30 % of their production being exported to the rest of the world.

the Small co-operative dairy is now one of the largest organic producers in the Danish food cluster with more than 85 dairy products on the shelves

An example of Danish food development

Thise’s trading turnover has walked hand in hand with the Danes’ implementation of organic dairy products in their everyday life. What started as a small co-operative with only two products available to the customers is now one of the largest organic producers in the Danish food cluster with more than 85 dairy products on the shelves – including milk, cheese and more specialised products like curds.

Thise’s story is just one example of how the Danish food cluster is the place to look to when it comes to food culture and development. Like the implementation of New Nordic Kitchen, Denmark is often a global front runner in the way we produce and consume.