For the Minister of Agriculture, “in the long term, the summer crisis raises the question of the model of French agriculture and its ability to resist climate change”. Food products with a controlled designation of origin (AOC) “will probably have to rethink” their specifications to take account of global warming, said Marc Fesneau this Wednesday in an interview with Figaro.
Bandol, Crozes hermitage, or Terrasse du Larzac for wines, Saint Nectaire, Roquefort, for cheeses, Espelette pepper or green lentils from Puy: France has a total of 363 wine AOPs, and 101 other AOP products, including half are cheeses or butters. Taking the example of the AOCs, he recalls that they “drafted their specifications well before climate change”.
Designations prohibited in trade agreements
AOCs are awarded by the National Institute of Origin (INAO) to regional products (wines, cheeses, meat or charcuterie specialties) identifying both their ancestral or region-specific production method, and their production area. precise. The specifications precisely set the manufacturing criteria (food and breeds of dairy cows for cheeses, grape varieties and degree limit for wines, for example), from which producers cannot deviate or risk losing their precious quality label. They are declined at European level in protected designations of origin (PDO), and defended in international trade agreements by the European Union.
During the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, which had suddenly closed markets, restaurants, and the cheese departments of supermarkets, many PDO cheesemakers had to request derogations from their strict specifications, in particular to be able to freeze the milk. cows or benefit from longer storage dates.
Last summer, the INAO also received numerous requests for derogation due to the drought which forced dairy breeders to change the diet of their herds due to a lack of hay, making it impossible in some cases to feed everything on the grass imposed by the specifications.