- Esneki (Leartiker Dairy Centre), Prosumerlab and Hazi are the Basque entities involved in the Know N Cheese project, with an investment of €1,338,816.06 and co-financed by the EU through the Interreg POCTEFA programme.
- The project has just launched its website and is in the middle of a diagnostic phase on the level of knowledge of traditional producers and consumers about sustainability in dairy production.
The POCTEFA Know N Cheese Project, which brings together 6 organisations on both sides of the Pyrenees with the common objective of increasing the competitiveness of traditional dairy and cheese farms by boosting their sustainability, has just launched its website www.knowncheese.com. This site brings together all the information on the actions, objectives and expected results of the project and will be a channel for communicating all its news, joining the profiles on social networks that were launched at the beginning of autumn.
Esneki (Leartiker Dairy Centre), Prosumerlab and Hazi, from the Basque Country, the BETA Technology Centre (University of Vic) from Catalonia and, from France, Idele (Institut de l’elevage) and Interprofession lait de Brebis are the agents driving this project, co-financed by the European Union through the Interreg POCTEFA programme (2021-2027).
The first actions of the Know N Cheese project were launched in mid-2024, focusing on a diagnosis of knowledge, needs and opportunities in terms of food sustainability. For the last few months, an exhaustive study has been carried out on the level of knowledge that both traditional producers and consumers have about sustainability in dairy production. This diagnosis will make it possible to identify the motivations and purchasing behaviour of consumers of artisan cheese and other dairy products and to develop a technology watch project based on the information obtained. The results of this study will be made public during the first quarter of 2025.
The keys to the Know N Cheese project
Know N Cheese will promote the generation of new knowledge to train the sector and raise consumer awareness of the social, economic and environmental sustainability of these products.
The training of producers is, therefore, a fundamental aspect of this project, but so is the training of consumers. Part of the Know N Cheese actions will focus on detecting the motivations of consumers when purchasing this type of product and training them on the health and economic benefits of making consumption decisions in favour of local, artisan products based on quality raw materials. Together with the study being carried out, direct contact with the consumer public in different contexts will be one of the pillars to favour this progressive awareness and various actions will be carried out throughout the project’s implementation period.
As a result of consumer trends and preferences, work will be carried out on the development of new products, under the prism of innovation that identifies this interregional project.
The collaboration between multidisciplinary entities on both sides of the Pyrenees is another of the keys to this project, which will run until the end of 2026 and which has an important innovation component, focused on the search for new practices and solutions linked to the traditional production that characterises the SMEs and micro-SMEs of the traditional dairy cheese sector in the POCTEFA area. Due to its characteristics, Know N Cheese and its results will, in turn, be a means of boosting the local economy of the territories of influence, making this sector more attractive and reinforcing its role in territorial development and the generation of new jobs.
Climate change trials
Another key expected outcome focuses on obtaining valuable information on the effect of climate change on dairy production. To this end, trials will be developed to assess how climate change affects the technological properties of milk and food safety, as well as animal welfare. In addition, the impact of dairy production and processing on climate change will be analysed.
