The Secretary of Agriculture of the Government of São Paulo, Guilherme Piai, visited institutions and schools to learn about public cheese policies, from pasture to table
São Paulo’s Minister of Agriculture, Guilherme Piai, spent two intense days in Paris to find out how public policies for French cheese work and gain inspiration to improve the artisanal cheese sector in São Paulo. I had the pleasure of acting as a translator at the meetings for him and his advisors Alberto Amorim and Ricardo Rosário.
“It was fantastic, we exchanged a lot of experiences with various sectors,” said Guilherme. “I found it very interesting that all French agricultural schools, including the Enil (National School of the Dairy Industry) units, depend on the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty. All research is carried out by the Inrae (National Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research) “The aim is also to help producers solve their problems. The cheese supply chain adds a lot of value and we need to encourage practices like this,” he said.
Resources allocated to teaching and research in France, excluding personnel expenses, reached 675 million euros in assignment authorizations and 671 million euros in payment credits in 2022, an increase of almost 5% compared to to 2021. This amount represents one third of the Ministry of Agriculture’s budget, or 34%, is reserved for the maintenance of approximately 300 rural schools that train 200,000 people per year. “Topics like agricultural transmission, keeping farmers in the fields, disaster insurance, all this was on the agenda.”
The topic of discussion was the “humanization of inspectors”, a request that manufacturers have been asking for for some time. “We want to walk alongside producers, guide, empower and not punish. We have simplified the certification of products of animal origin and now we will do the same with products of plant origin,” said Guilherme.
In the simplification brought by SISP for the certification of producers, one of the changes that most benefits the dairy economy is the flexibility of flows: producers who produce multiple cheeses and other products can do everything in the same production room, after all, the philosophy of family farming It is more multi-product than mono.
The Brazilian delegation also visited Maison du Lait, a federation of the milk and cheese supply chain that works for the development and dairy economy. Then, he visited the Cifca school, where I am a teacher, training traders of cheeses (chees), wines (cavistas) and fruit and vegetables.
The route concluded at the Lateirie de la Chapelle, an urban cheese shop and dairy that turns raw milk within Paris into a whole range of mature cheeses from different families. “The new law on artisanal cheese in São Paulo provides that dairy products can be established in cities, it is an innovation, we hope to see this reality in São Paulo soon,” Guilherme said.
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Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
