DAIRITAL

New European project to boost Innovation and Sustainability in the Traditional Dairy-Cheese Industry in Southwest Europe

We are very pleased to announce that we have been awarded a new European project within the Interreg SUDOE program. This project joins Know N Cheese, which we have been working on since mid-2024, and becomes the second European project we currently have underway. This new grant reinforces our commitment to innovation and sustainability in the dairy sector, also at the European level.

The new project, wich will last for 3 years, is called DAIRITAL and has been selected among more than 200 proposals submitted. Only 42 have been finally approved, so… the effort has been worth it!

What is DAIRITAL?

DAIRITAL, whose full title is “Development of sustainable production systems in the traditional dairy sector in the SUDOE area”, was created with the aim of responding to the challenges faced by small livestock farms and artisan dairies in southwestern Europe. Many of these SMEs, located in rural inland areas, are at risk of disappearing due to social, economic and technological factors. The project seeks to reverse this situation by implementing more sustainable, digitized production models adapted to the real needs of the territory.

During the next three years, we will work on the design of a Transnational Strategy that gathers innovative and multidisciplinary solutions to the most common problems of the traditional dairy sector. These solutions will first be validated experimentally and then implemented in real conditions through pilot actions in dairy farms and dairies in the SUDOE rural environment. We will evaluate their economic, social and environmental impact, and with the lessons learned we will develop a Transnational Action Plan to transfer the knowledge generated to other actors in the sector. This plan will include practical tools and dissemination activities to facilitate the adoption of the most effective solutions.

The solutions proposed in DAIRITAL seek to maximize the productive efficiency in a sustainable and digital way of these SMEs in the SUDOE territory by promoting:

  • The circular economy (reuse of endogenous food waste and residues).
  • The implementation of sustainable agri-food technologies (production and transformation systems).
  • Digitization (computer and spectroscopic technologies).
  • Specialized training.

Inter-territorial and multidisciplinary consortium

The consortium promoted by DAIRITAL is inter-territorial and multidisciplinary, and is made up of 3 R&D&I centers, 1 SME, 3 associations and 1 governmental entity linked to the sector. Following the order described above, we would be: Esneki Zentroa – Leartiker, Institut de l’Elevage (IDELE, France), Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária (INIAV, Portugal), Kaiku, Comité National Brebis Laitières (CNBL, France), Confederation Generale de Roquefort (France), Associação de produtores Queijo Serpa (APS, Portugal) and HAZI (Basque Government).

In addition, we have a network of key partners that provide a broad and representative vision of the sector, such as the Spanish Network of Artisan and Country Cheese Producers (QUERED), CONAFE, FENALAC (Portugal), FACENetwork, EEE, UPA, Neiker or INAO (France), among others.

Similarly, the communication plan is designed to ensure that the results reach all producers in the region with the maximum possible potential, inviting producers, researchers, companies and organizations to join this project and contribute their knowledge and experience.

Interreg SUDOE

The project has been financed by the Interreg SUDOE call, a European program that promotes transnational cooperation in spatial planning and regional development. The total budget of the project is 1,511,978.67 euros and the ERDF amount granted is 1,133,984.02 euros. With the clear objectives, the work plan described and this funding, the consortium expects to improve the market positioning and employment prospects of the rural primary and secondary dairy sector, attracting youth entrepreneurship and preventing the aging and depopulation of the rural hinterlands of the SUDOE regions.