The Yeşilova Model: Milk and the Cold Chain

Our goal is not to build a structure that merely buys produce or supplies inputs during certain periods. At the heart of this model lies experience gained in the field: setting up the physical infrastructure alone is not enough; for the system to work, training, technical response, quality, producer communication, logistics, personnel, the market and continuous coordination must all be carried out together.

The six elements of the model

An integrated cooperative model that knows its producers, plans production, develops solutions to technical problems, protects quality and connects the product to the market rests on six elements:

• Knowing the Producer and the Need — Regularly getting to know members' production capacity, land and livestock assets, cropping pattern, and their input and technical support needs.
• Planning Production — Evaluating production decisions together with capacity, cost, quality and, as far as possible, market intelligence.
• Building Shared Economic Power — Acting collectively in input supply, machinery and equipment, procurement of services and marketing to build scale and bargaining power.
• Developing Local Solution Capacity — Building a local infrastructure that can identify technical problems, carry out the first response, and mobilise the right expert when needed.
• Connecting Quality to the Market — Complementing training, hygiene, record-keeping, traceability and cold chain practices with strong and sustainable buyer relationships.
• Managing Institutionally and Based on Data — Building a cooperative that relies on the system rather than on individuals, through task sharing, working groups, financial discipline, digital records and member participation.

A worked example: Milk and the Cold Chain

In Yeşilova, the milk cold chain is the result of a multi-party effort carried out with the contributions of public institutions, producers, technical teams, sector representatives and other stakeholders. This process showed that establishing a milk collection center is not sufficient on its own; the sustainable operation of the system depends on the rapid resolution of daily technical problems, on the producer's trust in the system, and on the presence of a continuous solution capacity at the local level.

In Yeşilova, following the preparatory work, the first milk collection took place on 10 March 2026. The process required the joint management of many topics such as hygiene, antibiotic risk, quality control, technical infrastructure, calibration, electricity and water systems, personnel and logistics.

In Yeşilova, the cold chain has become not merely an infrastructure that was built, but a system that is owned, whose problems are solved in the field, and that is strengthened by local technical capacity.