Summer has started strong with a heat wave that has affected all of Europe and experts are already warning that an even worse one is coming. Extreme temperatures not only affect us, animals also suffer from them and it is wreaking havoc on a very important industry in Italy, that of Parmesan cheese.
what’s happening. They tell it in Reuters: Extreme heat is threatening the production of the most famous Italian cheese. The maximum temperatures, which can exceed 40 degrees, cause the cows to eat less, spend more time lying down and consequently produce less milk, the main ingredient in this cheese. Specifically, up to 10% less.
Cool cattle. Livestock farmers decades ago only had to open the windows of the stables at night so that the livestock could cope better with the heat, but now this is no longer enough. The windows are constantly open and some ranchers have installed fans with water misters to lower the temperature a little more.
The energy cost. The problem with installing these fans is that farms have seen their electricity bills increase. It is also being a problem for the companies that store the parmesan wheels, whose air conditioning systems have increased energy consumption by up to 30% more to maintain the optimal storage temperature, but the expense goes beyond the refrigeration itself.
Giancarlo Ravanetti is the director of one of these facilities, known as “The Bank of Parmigiano”, and stores half a million wheels of parmesan worth 300 million euros. Speaking to Reuters, he indicated that “To make our facilities as energy efficient as possible, we have improved our cooling and boiler systems, modernized building insulation and increased renewable energy production.”
Without grass, there is no parmesan. There are still more problems. Authentic Parmigiano Reggiano is produced in five provinces within the Emilia-Romagna region. To receive the designation of origin, the cows must be fed with grass and hay grown in this area, but with the heat and lack of rain this is an impossible task. The president of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium laments that “If it does not rain, the grass does not grow, hay cannot be produced and it is impossible to obtain the milk necessary to make cheese.”
A million-dollar industry. Parmesan is not only an icon of Italian cuisine, it is also the industry that supports much of the economy of Emilia-Romagna, where it employs thousands of people. It is estimated that it generates about 4.5 billion euros annually, of which half comes from exports, with the US being its main client.
According to Paolo Ganzerli, sales director of the GranTerre food group, the situation is critical: “If extreme events become longer and more intense, they will undoubtedly have an impact on both the quantity and quality of milk, but above all they will cause an increase in costs.” And he adds that “Parmigiano Reggiano has been around for more than 800 years. We don’t want to be the last generation to eat it.”
Image | Unsplash, edited
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