In Haute-Savoie, the fight of producers of abundance: “We are at the forefront of climate change”

Renowned for its fruity flavor and the rigor of its production in an area limited to the mountains of Haute-Savoie, Abondance cheese is facing an unprecedented challenge. Under the protected designation of origin (PDO), this jewel of French gastronomy is at stake for nothing less than its survival in the face of climate change. Producers, transporters, dairymen: the entire artisanal chain is engaged in a race against time, or rather against time, whether it's scorching hot or extremely rainy. Multiple and unprecedented measures are being taken to save this raw cow's milk cheese.

In his mountain pasture at Ime, at an altitude of 1,600 meters in the commune of Mieussy, Thierry Curdy, 48, is experimenting for the first time this summer with a device of his own invention. He placed his 2,000-liter milking scoop (the stainless steel tank that collects his cows' milk) in an old glacier trailer. The vehicle's insulated walls still bear the marks of its former use: "Ice cream, ice cream." This nod says it all. The classic mobile cow milking station is now connected to this curious vehicle, set up in the mountains. The goal is to protect the stainless steel tank from the sun and thus prevent the proliferation of bacteria, which would be fatal to this milk bursting with the flavors of the mountain pastures.

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