The specifications of several Protected Designations of Origin (AOP) and Label Rouge are relaxed until spring 2023. The drought and the rules for feeding animals have become impossible for breeders to reconcile.
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Munster, Bleu d’Auvergne, Fourme d’Ambert, Corsican Brocciu, or Quercy lamb… Drought obliges our PDOs and our “Label Rouge” products to be less demanding. On the Vosges and Massif Central plateaus, the soils are too dry, the grass is yellow and does not grow enough. Breeders must therefore buy hay and fodder from other departments to feed the animals.
>> Food: the problem of Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) at the global level
Except that to keep the PDO, the Protected Designation of Origin, strict rules must be respected. They have just been relaxed a little until spring. Up to 20% of the cows’ feed can now come from elsewhere for the production of Munster, Alsace, Fourme d’Ambert and Bleu d’Auvergne.
The minimum time spent in pasture is even reduced for Bleu des Causses, in Aveyron.
A lamb producer in Quercy, not far away, can raise his animals ten days longer without fear of losing his Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).
These specifications were drawn up long before the episodes of drought experienced by France. “We will have to review these rules”warns the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, at the risk of having to make them more flexible every year.