Ossau-Iraty AOC: Geographical Indicator Adoption as a Sustainability Intervention

A.     OVERVIEW

“Whether they come from Béarn or Pays Basque, they have to gather in order to stand for themselves before industrial dairies; their unification might help them build a sustainable local activity”. (Millet 2019:3072)

This essay discusses Ossau-Iraty (“OI”), a semi-hard pressed uncooked ewe’s milk cheese made solely in Béarn and the Basque country in the Western Pyrenees (“WP”) valleys. It argues that the adoption of this geographical indication (“GI”), created in 1980, could be viewed as a relatively successful sustainability intervention. Section B describes the product, its place in the global food system, and its relevance for study. Section C analyses the main social and economic impacts associated with this cheese, as well as the effectiveness of the adoption of the GI as a sustainability intervention. Finally, Section D sets out implications of these findings for research, policy and practice.

B.     DESCRIPTION

The French Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (“AOC”) regime is considered the precursor to European regulations on protected designations of origin (Appellation d’Origine Protégée; “PDO”) (Millet 2019). ‘AOC Ossau-Iraty’ was established in 1980 and recognized as PDO in 1998 (Millet 2019).

1,300 milk producers and 140 farm producers produce, process, and market OI (SDDOI). OI exists in 2 forms – the softer larger Béarnaise variety, with a golden rind, usually produced on-farm employing summer pasture practices; and the smaller and harder Basque variety with a greyish rind (Corouge 2002; Millet 2019).

The impetus behind OI was the abrupt cessation, in the 1970s and 1980s, of Roquefort manufacturers’ procurement of ewe milk from the WP, the milk already available for Roquefort purposes (Mariani et al. 2021), and the resulting desire to unite local producers (Millet 2019).

After 80 years of supplying milk to Roquefort producers, during which Roquefort manufacturers set up cheese factories in the WP (SDDOI), Roquefort withdrawal from the region inspired the reconversion of WP milk into a value-added local cheese (Mariani 2018). Roquefort companies abandoned the WP, leaving the farmers with their milk on their hands and the processors with empty facilities (Géné 2008).

More than half of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques’ surface area is deployed in agricultural use, and the department also holds France's second largest reserve of sheep (RNA 2019). Affected stakeholders decided to invent a GI which reflected their collective interests and which would anchor the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department as a unique cheese-making region (Géné 2008). The OI name reflects this “arranged” Béarn-Basque marriage (Géné 2008) – it is “completely made up, putting together iconic areas of Béarn (Ossau Valley) and the Pays Basque (Iraty Forest)” (Millet and Casabianca 2014:52). This essay studies OI as a sustainability intervention, for economic survival, through the institution and adoption of a GI.

C.1.     SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

I.     SOCIAL IMPACTS

The creation of the OI codified and simultaneously standardized local cheese production practices in the Béarn and Basque regions. To commercialise OI, stakeholders were obliged to overlook numerous possibilities during the PDO certification process, selecting one product for approval, thereby potentially “eroding a rich local heritage” (Millet and Casabianca 2014:53). After certification, to cater to consumer preferences, OI expert tasting panels further standardised its taste by endorsing a less distinctive and conspicuous flavour profile by “excluding animal scents considered unusual to average consumers, but appreciated by local or even specialty consumers” (Mariani et al. 2019:483).

As such, OI as a GI conserves cheese production in the 2 regions but also valorises their more saleable iterations (Mariani et al. 2019), giving rise to a standardized marketable notion of OI.

OI represents the industrialisation, appropriation, and even misrepresentation of ancestral on-farm cheesemaking identities and practices (Mariani 2018; Millet 2019). “To Béarn producers, [OI] would be an industrial cheese, in which they did not recognize their product and themselves.” (Millet 2019:3062). Industrial dairy companies external to the regions were heavily involved in the PDO negotiation and decision-making process, while local on-farm producers were marginalized (Mariani 2018; Mariani et al. 2019). This resulted in OI’s “permissive specifications” (Mariani 2018:147) (see section II) whether the producer be Basque or Béarnaise, industrial or farmhouse (Géné 2008). These specifications have since been refined, with restrictions against some industrial techniques, while introducing logos to distinguish on-farm producers (Mariani 2018). In terms of labelling, for instance, the words “farm cheese” are reserved strictly for on-farm producers (Corouge 2002).

Today, while the sheep farmer may still elect to process his cheese on-farm, or sell the milk to a dairy cooperative for processing (Urruty 2020), the proportion of on-farm production shifted from 10% in 2008 to 40% in 2015, reverting to 10% as of 2021 (Géné 2008; Mariani 2018; Mariani et al. 2021). Indeed, “[OI] can be considered as an industrial product, developed in order to sustain the development of dairies, whereas on-farm production, in Bearn and Pays Basque, is marginalized” (Millet 2019:3067). Ultimately, industrialisation appears to be the more commercially resilient mode of OI production, leading to questions about the long-term future of on-farm OI production.

OI is a significant part of the WP cheese industry: in 2019, it constituted 30% of WP cheese production, involving 90% of WP dairy-ewe farmers (Millet and Casabianca 2019). Further, “PDO varieties are perceived by consumers as varieties of higher quality than non-PDO varieties,” (Duvaleix et al. 2021:1) as is the case with OI, and the prestige associated with the GI has allowed OI to be priced 30% above comparable industrial alternatives (Welch-Devine and Murray 2011).

However, the magnitude of such economic benefits is not to be overstated. Farm-owners have been known to remodel their farms to provide tourist accommodation (Welch-Devine and Murray 2011), and a significant number of agricultural workers in the Basque country have continued to supplement their income through a complementary activity (Urruty 2020). While OI is undoubtedly an significant contributor to the Béarn and Basque cheese industry, the social impacts of its adoption remain mixed.

II.     ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

To a consumer, “the presence of the GI on the label carries specific messages to the consumer about the process of production, as opposed to information on the inherent qualities of the product alone” (Barham 2003:129). In the case of OI, the GI specifications stipulate a minimum grazing period, a maximum milking period with productivity capped at 300 litres per ewe per year, a ban on silage (fermented pasture) during milking and on the use of genetically modified feed, caps on the volume of concentrates in the fodder, and a focus on transhumance (Millet and Casabianca 2019; Mariani et al. 2019; Urruty 2020; de Sainte Marie et al. 2021). Pastures must be fertilized with organic manure originating from the OI region, and fodder must be purchased from within the region (Millet and Casabianca 2019). In line with French GI practices across the board, direct grazing and the silage proscription is related to the “maintenance of grassland and pastures, preservation of their biodiversity and, consequently, maintenance of an open landscape” (Millet and Casabianca 2019). From an environmental perspective, broadly, OI specifications appear to have beneficial ramifications.

Summer transhumance, the primary mode of grazing in Béarn, allows herds to enjoy verdant mountain pastures (Mariani 2018; Millet 2019) (Millet 2019:3066). In Béarn and the Basque country today, summer transhumance involves approximately 2,200 farmers and 300,000 sheep in communal summer pastures spanning almost 150,000 hectares of land (RNA 2019). Indeed, the rainy WP climate and its secluded valleys is especially conducive to transhumance (Mariani 2018). Transhumance is lauded at national as well as transnational sectoral levels as an effective method to “contain the growth of ferns, make mountain landscapes more accessible to users, and prevent fires” (Mariani 2018:158). It also reduces the cost of feeding the ewes during summer and facilitating hay stocks for the winter (Corouge 2002), and complements the preservation of mountain communities, cultures, and environments (Mariani 2018). The Béarnaise practice of transhumance may with certainty be regarded as environmentally advantageous and sustainable.

OI milk must be obtained from only 3 specific breeds of indigenous sheep – Manex Tête Noire, Manex Tête Rousse, and Basco-Béarnaise (Mariani et al. 2019; Urruty 2020). The requirement for use of local sheep breeds may well be associated with the preservation of these breeds. Indeed, this requirement has had “positive effects on the conservation of local breeds and pastoralism” (Mariani 2018:181) and is also logical for the simple reason that local breeds would be more at ease in navigating mountain pastures (Mariani et al. 2021). The requirement for use of the 3 local sheep breeds could also reduce the introduction of potential invasive species and thereby foster the conservation of local ecosystems, characterising another environmentally favourable impact of this OI specification.

The interdiction of silage was introduced in order to stem “excessive intensification in soil use and feeding” (Millet and Casabianca 2018). It also supports flavour stabilisation (Mariani et al. 2019) and animal health (Lamarque and Lambin 2015). Silage is also largely prohibited in the production of at least 3 other French Alpine GI cheeses; as pithily explained by one farmer, “Animals are not made to consume fermented product” (Lamarque and Lambin 2015:711). To this end, the anti-silage rule may also be construed as a favourable environmental outcome of the OI rules.

III.     CONSUMPTION

It would not be a stretch to describe the average OI purchaser as a more health-conscious and worldly individual with access to some disposable income.

OI is an award-winning cheese exported worldwide (Cheese Connoisseur 2017). In France, it is purchased primarily in supermarkets and hypermarkets, and is popular in the Southwest and Parisian regions, especially with upper- and upper-middle income earners, senior citizens, and households without children (Agreste 2023). As a raw milk cheese, OI finds itself in the midst of rising consumer demand as raw milks are viewed as more natural and healthful (de Sainte Marie et al. 2021). OI’s popularity evokes that of Kintamani coffee from Bali, Indonesia, in which a GI – formed with no basis of prior reputation or collective know-how – has become an international commercial triumph (Durand and Fournier 2017).

C.2.     SUSTAINABILITY INTERVENTIONS

A number of interventions have taken place in a bid to improve OI’s sustainability, the examined attributes in this section being “productivity, stability, resilience, adaptability, equity, and self-sufficiency” (Bowen and Zapata 2009:112). Given that OI was a intervention primarily driven by commercial survival, it is logical that most sustainability measures within the OI setting have also been economically focussed.

The Ossau-Iraty Cheese Route was founded in 1992 as the first gastronomic cheese route in France, in which tourists are guided to points between Béarn and the Basque country offering tastings and sales with presentations, explanations, and advice rendered by OI professionals (Corouge 2022). The experiential nature of this learning and outreach process could result in stickier customer retention and more profound and widespread awareness of OI (Mariani 2018). This intervention “fosters consumers’ learning about their labour conditions and product qualities [while] consumers give important feedback in terms of taste appreciation and consumption practices that change the producers’ vision of their work.” (Mariani 2018:153) and may be largely hailed as effective in terms of the long-term adaptability, resilience, and stability of the OI market.

In Béarn, where transhumance and on-farm OI production is more prevalent than in the Basque country, social learning takes place by sharing in the transhumance process as well as the experience of OI production in “cabanes ouvertes” (‘open mountain huts’).

At the end of June each year, the local community and other members of the public join the shepherds and the animals in the annual transhumance procession toward the mountain pastures (Mariani 2018). The sensorial participation in this integral step in the cheesemaking practice is also instrumental in nurturing respect and a sense of shared responsibility for the natural environment, by “marking the fact that mountains are no more exclusively a pastoral place, but a place shared by different users, hikers, or tourists” (Mariani 2018:153-154)”. Assuredly, by presenting the opportunity for transhumance to be experienced as a memorable, collective, and interactive event, this intervention highlights the very human nature of OI cheesemaking, drawing consumers back firmly to the land, the animals, and the shepherds.

As regards the “cabanes ouvertes”, communal pastures are divided into pastoral cabins belonging to the communes and valley unions and made available to shepherds for use during OI production (Corouge 2002). During “cabanes ouvertes” events, members of public may shadow OI shepherds in their daily activities, as “producers and consumers share practices through hands-on experience, and physically engage with each other’s knowledge” (Mariani 2018:154). The 2023 winner of the ‘Trophées du Tourisme 64’ (‘Tourism Trophies 64’), “cabanes ouvertes” has been recognized as a form of responsible tourism (AET3V). This tourism-based intervention promoting cultural equity through the preservation of traditional savoir-faire, as well as deeper resilience of OI as a trade, craft, and heritage.

Inaugurated in 2006, the Azkorria artisanal cheese cooperative comprises 17 Souletin sheep farmers who resisted the industrialization of OI sheep milk production and united to manage their own processing tool jointly (Azkorria 1). The formation of this cooperative is unsurprising given that self-management and independence is at the heart of the Soule region, which is itself co-owned and managed by a union (‘Syndicat de Soule’) on behalf of all Souletins (Guide du Pays Basque). Azkorria demonstrates the possibility and desirability of farmers controlling the entire chain of their work tools, from production and processing to marketing (Azkorria 2) For that matter, in 2022, it was obliged to expand its physical storage capacities up to 120 tonnes (Sud Ouest 2022). Azkorria’s strategy accords with the concept that long-term sustainability could be achieved by a two-pronged approach of elevating local resources while simultaneously instituting collective management and supervision (de Sainte Marie 2021). This anti-industrialist cooperative’s continued longevity, feasibility, and productivity is perhaps testament to its resilience and sustainability.

D.     CONCLUSION

OI may facilitate environmental and ecological sustainability if its legal specifications included explicit conservation goals and requirements (Bowen and Zapata 2009; Mariani 2018). The French government body in charge of administering GIs published a set of environmental recommendations (summarized at Appendix “1”). This could be achieved by the adoption of the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems framework, issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in conjunction with local codes of conduct and protocols (Millet and Casabianca 2019). Public support for rule changes of this nature may be bolstered with outreach and education around the concept that “the product quality and the sustainability of its production system over time depend on the protection of local resources” (Belletti et al. 2017:47). It is likely that firm and mandatory environmental stipulations would strengthen OI sustainability.

GIs are associated with positive outcomes in the sustainable development of rural regions (Welch-Devine and Murray 2011; Millet 2019) as GI-certified food delivers greater socio-economic benefits than their non-certified counterparts at a relatively accessible price premium (Bellassen et al. 2022). OI could advance food security in Béarn and the Basque country, directly as a self-sufficient local foodway, and indirectly as a viable income stream (Mariani 2018; Urruty 2020). This may be enhanced via resource management, economic participation, and exchange and capacity-building (Belletti et al. 2017). Considering OI’s existing commercial viability and reputational prominence, greater support at a departmental and national level would be justified. Additionally, a potentially interesting research pathway could involve the investigation of on-the-ground data representing cheesemakers’ experiences, from a socio-economic and developmental point of view, before and after becoming associated with OI.

GIs couple geographic origins with the local and community gastronomy, values, traditions, and practices surrounding production and processing (Barham 2003; Belletti et al. 2017; Welch-Devine and Murray 2011). By stimulating local cohesion, protecting local resources and control (Bowen and Zapata 2009), codifying local expertise (Belletti et al. 2017) and connecting these with a tangible experienceable food product, “GI products contribute to national identity and to cultural or gastronomic heritage... and have a positive impact on country exports and appeal” (Belletti et al. 2017:47). In France, this aspect of GIs is crystallised in the concept of terroir, illustrating the bond between land, community, and food, and a reframing of the “elements of the rural past to be used in asserting a new vision of the rural future” (Barham 2003:132). To that end, the inclusion of more varied and unique flavour profiles of OI could expand its appeal and concurrently honour Béarn and Basque cultural and culinary diversity (Bowen and Zapata 2009). Given OI’s relative fame around the world, and as consumer palates seek out more esoteric food experiences, there may be space for more adventurousness and authenticity.

To mitigate against the dangers of corporatisation, as seen in the Mexican tequila GI market (Bowen and Zapata 2009), measures could be put in place to entrench local control of the OI industry. For one, it would be politically equitable to assist farmers – in particular small on-farm producers – with the cost, infrastructure, and expertise required in GI implementation (Boisvert and Caron 2010), facilitating access to this GI market. A second possibility is encouraging farm-to-public direct sales, as with other AOC cheeses, which may offer distribution-related cost-savings (Welch-Devine and Murray 2011). As OI is first and foremost a labour union between cheesemakers, suppliers, dairies, and refiners (Mariani 2018), it requires the participation of every stakeholder for long-term sustainability.

With concrete governmental and public support for on-farm OI production, explicit environmental specifications, and the presentation of other flavour varieties, OI could embody resistance – against rural-urban exodus, against the erasure of the countryside, and against the homogeneity and placelessness of globalized standardization (Bowen and Zapata 2009; Boisvert and Caron 2010; Mariani 2018; Millet 2019). Despite its somewhat fabricated origins, OI has taken root as an institution in its own right, with the power to influence greater socioeconomic and environmental sustainability within the Béarn and Basque regions.

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Appendix « 1 »

• Preserve and develop biodiversity

Implementation of hedges and grassy strips. Reduction or even banning of herbicides. Biodiversity of pastures and diversity of flora… Development of agroforestry…

• Control and reduce fertilization

Limit the use of synthetic fertilizers. Promote the cultivation of green fertilizers…

• Limit the use of pesticides

Use of varieties or breeds more resistant to certain diseases. Reduce the action of pests by more natural methods…

• Promote better water management

Compliance with good irrigation practices.

Recovery of rainwater. Use of plants adapted to drought…

• Adapt breeding methods to local resources

Reduce the use of medicines, and in particular antibiotics. Favor local origin of food. Ban GMOs in animal feed…

• Use more suitable genetics

Favored use of indigenous varieties and breeds, and/or those adapted to local climatic conditions…

(Source : Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (« INAO »). (2016). ‘La Lettre de L'INAO: L'agro-écologie s'installe dans les SIQO’. Français. N° spécial « Agro-écologie » - mars 2016. https://www.inao.gouv.fr/content/download/1612/16282/version/3/file/Lettre%20aux%20ODG%20n%C2%B07%20mars%202016.pdf.)

(Photograph: Aquitaine Online)