New Technologies Supporting the Traditional and Historical Dairy in the Archimed Zone
The general objective of T-Cheese Med is to promote the new information and communication technology in order to reinforce the division dairy through the creation of a network. Its specifics Objectives are: 1. To contribute to the reduction of handicap related to geographically isolated regions, such as mountain areas where milk / quality cheese producers operate; 2. To develop an operative system (software) to guarantee Know - How exchange between bodies / institutions / producers that operate in the Archimed area and that are related with quality products; 3. To guarantee access to knowledge and new information systems on electronic trade in the field of traditional cheeses The Mediterranean area has been, for a thousand of years, the main point of global food farming exchange. We can say that it has been that the “sea of the flavours and spices”. This is one peculiar characteristic that has outlined the culture, the economy and the landscape, transforming deeply the Mediterranean countries. The traditional dairy products, exclusively obtained with raw milk, give the chance to the consumers of tasting a “unique” product both for an aromatic aspect and for an healthy and nutritional aspect. Each piece of traditional cheese is tied to the territory of origin, from which it elicits the peculiar characteristics, that we define the “Biodiversity Factors”. Many of those factors are connected to the landscape, the climate, the type of natural pasture, the breeding and to all those cultural and historical aspects characterizing a specific area. For all those reasons, the typical cheese is born and is becoming a territorial brand representing a marketing means of interaction with the global consumers not only for promoting the variety of the cheeses but also for promoting the variety of territories. Talking about the dairy chain for the production of typical cheeses we should consider some aspects: 1. the milk producers and the cheese makers 2. the farmers 3. the DOP consortiums guarantee 4. The research and quality certification consortiums. All the subjects participating at this project have in common the isolation problem more than 70% of the actors involved in the dairy chain, looking at the structure of the territories included in the Archimed zone, is established into the interlard, really far from the administrative districts. This aspect is a huge handicap and it threatens to produce important negative effects: • Scientific community isolation comparing both to the most advanced research techniques and to the check production systems used in the European area • The cheese producers lack of information about the European rules that are applied for producing typical cheeses of a certain quality • Progressive lost of specialty cheese market share. The T-Cheese.Med project aims to study a strategy that through new technologies, intends to create a network between the public institutions involved in the agricultural sector, the control bodies which certify quality products. The strengthening of this network, with the support of a common interface for the net access, will allow improving the assistance service level supplied to the characters of the dairy chain contributing to reduce the geographical isolation limits and in specific we might have: • Carried out the software for joining in the network both the public institutions involved in the agricultural sector, the control bodies which certify quality products; • Supplying on line a set of integrated services for creating a group of assisted points of access; • Trained a number of chain actors to use and to learn the ICT’s; • Improved the production system quality in order to achieve the quality certifications rules by the EU policies. • Created the web site to launch E-Commerce.