Fornos de Algodres promotes Serra da Estrela Cheese and other local products: Gazeta Rural

Between March 22nd and 24th, Serra da Estrela DOP cheese will be the king of the party in the municipality of Fornos de Algodres. In addition to cheese from local producers, the stalls in the municipal pavilion will be filled with endogenous products from the Beira region, with 60 exhibitors attending the event. In an interview with Gazeta Rural, the president of the Chamber of Fornos de Algodres said that 13 licensed cheese dairies will be at the fair, of which three have DOP certification. Manuel Fonseca also warned of the decrease in the number of milk producers and stressed that it is necessary to “reverse this situation”.

Gazeta Rural (GR): What will be new at this year’s Cheese Fair?

Manuel Fonseca (MF): The novelty this year will be the opening of the fair on Friday afternoon and not on Saturday, as in previous editions, so that exhibitors have another opportunity to do their business. There is an essential focus, which is cheese from Serra da Estrela. But, in addition to cheese, we will give priority to other endogenous products, not only from Fornos de Algodres, but also from neighboring municipalities in the region, so that we can showcase the best that is made in the Beira and Serra da Estrela region. There will be around 60 exhibitors, including 13 licensed cheese dairies, three of which have DOP certification.

GR: How many dairy producers are there in the municipality?

MF: At the moment, there are still around 100 sheep farmers in the municipality. What happens is that a large part sells milk and does not make cheese, a trend that has been increasing and it is important for us, municipalities and other entities, to reverse this situation.

At the fair, there will also be a sheep competition, in which the best sheep that come to the Serra de Algodres Cheese Fair will be evaluated and awarded.

GR: This year there was a concentration, in a shorter period, of cheese fairs. Is this a continuation or was it an occasional trend that occurred this year?

MF: What happened this year was, particularly in terms of the Beiras and Serra da Estrela Intermunicipal Community and also other municipalities that have cheese, that we understood that we should talk about having a calendar for this product here.

Since we are talking about Serra da Estrela cheese, it was important that there was a window of one or two months, in which we could demonstrate the good things that are done here in this region in the interior of Beiras.

GR: A few years ago, your predecessor outlined a somewhat gray scenario for the production of Serra da Estrela cheese in the region. Has this scenario changed? Is the sector more active?

MF: At the moment, we are still at a stage of not knowing what we are going to do about this whole process. What happens is that, effectively, we are losing heads of cattle every year and also cheese factories in the various municipalities.

There is a cheese factory in the municipality that will be certified, producing PDO cheese, and which could eventually reverse this trend. But I also think it is important that all entities, particularly inter-municipal communities, also explore the added value of the existence of small cheese shops.

It is also important in tourist terms, for example, to come to Fornos de Algodres and visit the small cheese factories, in order to see how cheese is made and all the work it takes to make a high quality product available to the Portuguese, and not only.

GR: Did your counterpart from Penalva do Castelo disagree with the promotion project for cheeses from the central region, understanding that the consumption of a product is being promoted, instead of encouraging its production so there is more cheese? Is it necessary to reverse this paradigm?

MF: I completely agree. At a meeting of the Intermunicipal Community, I said, once again, that we are carrying out marketing projects, projects to promote Serra da Estrela cheese and we have forgotten that there is only cheese if there is production in this region. In order for there to be cheese, there must be investment in production and for this we have to create mechanisms, so that cheese producers can have a different way of life to the one they have had until now.

A cheesemaker works 365 days a year, or 366, as is the case this year. Therefore, we must create conditions so that young people can dedicate themselves to cheese production, giving them the possibility of having a life with normal 21st century standards.

Therefore, we cannot continue waiting for a young person to want to be a cheese producer and work 365 days a year, if they do not have the conditions and incentives to do so. We have to provide conditions to settle these young people and create more income for them, so they can have a dignified life. If they continue to promote for the sake of promoting, we run the risk that one day later there will be no product to promote, because there is no production.

Photo: Algodres Furnace Chamber.