The agri-food giant Lactalis has once once more rubbed shoulders with it and might only see it: the dairy cooperatives of Haute-Savoie are resisting. In the summer of 2022, the earth shook in the land of Reblochon. Through its local subsidiary Pochat & Fils, Lactalis had taken over the Haute-Savoie cheesemaker Verdannet, a collaborator of several cooperatives in the territory and a major player in protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI). Reblochon then represented half of its production.
After this announcement, fear invaded the cooperatives for a while. “Lactalis wants to control AOPs, there is a real danger here in the face of this multinational”, warns Jean-Michel Rémillon, milk producer in Groisy and member of the Confédération paysanne. The exchanges were then numerous, the strategies sharpened. And, since then, producers have left Lactalis.
“The takeover of Verdannet took place in June, Lactalis had lost half of the milk in September”, regret in the discussions of the defenders of Lactalis, a little confused by the turn taken by the events. Of the 30 million liters with which Verdannet worked before its takeover, fifteen have disappeared, in favor of local cheese makers.
” Blacks beasts “
Across the territory, cooperatives have taken the opportunity to merge, others have been joined by small producers hitherto independent and wishing to escape from Lactalis. “We want to choose our orientations, to have a vision of our production from start to finishjustifies Laurent Capt, manager of the Capt & Fils company, which is more than a century old, and works on the premises and in partnership with the Arbusigny cooperative.. It is a strong personality trait of the Savoyards. »
Among the cooperatives affected by this takeover, that of Groisy-sur-l’Etang, north of Annecy, brought together 22 producers for 9.5 million liters of milk collected by Verdannet. In the operation, it lost two million liters and three producers (including two organized into a joint farming group, GAEC). Solicited by The worldthe latter had, at first, accepted the idea of an interview, before canceling the meeting, one specifying by telephone that they had become the ” Blacks beasts “ from other producers.
Groisy-sur-l’Etang also saw the disappearance of the production equipment of the cheese dairy, property of Lactalis. The members of the cooperative tried to buy it back from him, but the multinational demanded 2 million euros paid in milk wages for five years. The cooperative refused. It plans to equip itself with new machines that are more suitable for future production, for just over 3 million euros. “We will be quiet for twenty-five years”, philosopher Guy Duret, president of Groisy-sur-l’Etang. At the end of March, he voted with all the members minus one vote for the merger with the Arbusigny cooperative, which did the same for its part unanimously. This should be effective, if all goes well, in 2024. “It’s a real project for the future, a great human adventure”enthuses Laurent Capt, like all the producers concerned interviewed, cautious but smiling.
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