In Roquefort, Arnaud Viala visits La Pastourelle, the “historic” brand of the Sodiaal cooperative

Les membres de la coopérative La Pastourelle aux côtés de Damien Lacombe, Sébastien David et Arnaud Viala AD

Le président du Département a répondu à l'invitation du président de la coopérative Sodiaal. 

A few days after the discontent of farmers which emerged throughout France and in particular in Millau and on the A75, the president of the Department Arnaud Viala – accompanied by the mayors of Saint-Affrique and ;Roquefort – responded to the invitation of Damien Lacombe, president of Sodiaal, the first French dairy cooperative, which in 2023 generated a turnover of 5.5 billion euros ;euros. 

In the premises of Fromageries Occitanes, former subsidiary of the 3A cooperative – until then the largest player in the agri-food industry in Midi-Pyrénées with 2,000 employees, absorbed by Sodiaal& nbsp;in 2014, Arnaud Viala reiterated his attachment to dairy production in the region. A message received by Damien Lacombe who after 10 years of presidency at the head of the global milk juggernaut will hand over the reins at the group's next general meeting next June in Pau. 

Consumption down

A president who came to southern Aveyron to salute the success of the "small" production unit of 75 employees and its strong brand, La Pastourelle, named after the eponymous cooperative. "We are capable of&nbsp ;produce here up to 4,200 cheeses every day and transform 7 million liters of milk per year, or 678,000 loaves stored on Lauras", explains the site manager.

A president also came to discuss the major challenges of tomorrow: global warming, generational renewal, attractiveness of the profession. "Sodiaal transforms 120 million liters of cow's milk in Aveyron for 300 producers. In the South-Aveyron basin, 28 million liters of sheep's milk overall with a portion for Pastourelle of 18 million."

Enough to allow Roquefort AOP La Pastourelle to win two gold medals at the Salon de l'Agriculture in Paris and win one more , – "we hope" – news this year. "The dynamic around our productions but it is up to us today to do everything we can to maintain it by working intelligently to provide solutions to our members. Knowing that consumption of Roquefort has fallen by 10% in two years. Today we must revitalize this major production for the area, agrees David Lacombe.