Extreme heat and drought in France are disrupting traditional grazing patterns for dairy cows.. this environmental shift threatens the production of AOP-certified cheeses like Salers, as farmers struggle to meet strict grass-feeding requirements.
Why 75% of Salers producers faced drought this summer
The production of Salers, a semi-hard raw cow’s milk cheese from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, is currently in jeopardy. According to the report, more than three-quarters of the 80 producers of Salers were impacted by severe drought this year.. this crisis is compounded by the fact that July was the hottest month recorded since 1900 and the third driest in history, as reported by France’s national weather service.
For dairy farmers like Laurent Lours, the president of the Comitée interprofessionnel des fromages du Cantal, the predictability of the land has vanished. Lours noted that pasture failures, which once occurred every 15 to 20 years, are now happening almost every other year. This volatility forces cows to produce less milk and leads to the birth of weakened calves, undermining the biological foundation of the region's dairy industry.
The INAO's temporary exemptions for Beaufort and Comté
The Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO) has been forced to intervene as climate stress makes strict AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée) rules impossible to follow. The INAO recently granted temporary modifications to producers of Beaufort, Comté, and Abondance, allowing them to increase fodder or source supplementary feed from outside their designated geographic zones. These labels typically require every stage of production to happen within a specific area to preserve the "terroir."
Some producers are opting for a complete pivot rather than seeking exemptions. As the source reported, Laurent Lours stopped making Salers on July 8 to switch to Cantal, a similar cheese with more flexible regulations.. While Salers requires cows to be primarily grass-fed between April 15 and November 15, Cantal only requires 120 days of grazing per year and allows a more generous ratio of grain and corn.
The INRAE study on omega-3 and flavor loss
The tension between regulatory flexibility and product quality is highlighted by research from France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE). In a study simulating drought conditions, INRAE researchers found that cows fed primarily on grass produced cheese that was softer, yellower, and more aromatic. These grass-fed cheeses also contained higher levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids compared to those made from cows fed on hay and corn.
This scientific data suggests that the "terroir" of French cheese is not just a marketing term but a chemical reality tied to the soil. When cows are moved away from pasture, the resulting cheese becomes whiter, firmer, and loses the complex flavor profiles—ranging from walnuts to smoked grilled onion—that define the AOP experience. This creates a paradox where the measures taken to save the farm may inadvertently destroy the product's identity.
Will the 25 percent supplement limit survive climate change?
A critical point of contention remains whether the AOP rules should be permanently relaxed to accommodate a warming planet.. Currently, Salers production limits supplementation to no more than 25 percent of dry matter . Some producers have asked the INAO to permanently adjust grazing periods and allow more external feed, but the process is slow and risks diluting the prestige of the AOP label.
There is also a significant gap in perspective regarding consumer awareness. while researchers at INRAE warn of a tangible drop in quality, Christian Janier, a fourth-generation cheesemonger in Lyon, suggests that the average buyer might not notice the difference. This raises the question of whether the AOP standards are a necessary safeguard for quality or an unsustainable relic in an era of permanent climate instability.
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