During its general meeting on November 5, the Mont d'Or interprofessional union detailed its proposal for new AOP specifications in the presence of producers and stakeholders in the sector. It will be presented and voted on by the INAO national committee on November 21. The revision of the specifications is planned for the three AOPs: Comté, Morbier and Mont d'Or. Rules are reinforced and harmonized between the 3 AOPs: the limitation of 1.2 million liters of milk per farm, the increase in the surface area per cow which goes from 1 to 1.3 hectares or even a limit of 50 dairy cows per farm. UTA (worker). For Mont d'Or, there is an extension of territory with a wider area going from 100 to 140 municipalities and specific measures that the ten producing cheese factories will have to adopt. There is also a ban on the use of green corn as well as any chemical destruction on all cultivated plots. Other precautions, not yet detailed, regarding the cleanliness of dairy cow herds and the C/N analysis (Carbon/Nitrogen ratio) of the soil under pasture, will be reinforced. Finally, we note a revised maximum distance for green feeding. “I am convinced that versatility is always a strength, I can only encourage you to persevere and to be proud,” explains Éric Fevrier, president of the union during the meeting.
The union hopes for full application of the specifications from 2030. We must wait for the verdict of the national committee. Since a production record during the 2021-2022 season of 6,000 tonnes, the situation has deteriorated, accelerated by climate change the following year with a drop of 10% which stabilized in 2023-2024. “We will no longer reach this kind of figure. We need to focus more on quality than quantity. “.
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