A REGION RAISING UP FROM THE ASHES AND THE BEGINNING OF LAMBING SEASON 2022/2023

After a summer with one of the worst fires ever, which reached a burned area of over 26 thousand hectares, equivalent to 25% of the Serra da Estrela Natural Park and 4% of the entire burned area in Europe, the landscape and the economic activity suffered dramatically as a result.

In the case of the primary sector and pastoral activity, the greatest symbol of the region due to the  production of Serra da Estrela PDO Cheese, the losses are evident due to the loss of extensive areas of pastures, and therefore the loss of the way of feeding for the Bordaleiras sheep, worsening the effects that were already felt with the severe drought of recent years, along with the significant increase in the prices of animal feed and other essential products for pastoralism.

For this reason, Vale da Estrela Dairy started its production process this year at the end of September in order to start supporting the region’s shepherds earlier, offering to expand its Producers’ Club, as happened in pandemic period, in order to support the subsistence of the chain and direct support to the region.

It was thus, imbued with a reinforced spirit of mission, that we started the Lambing Season 2022/2023, with the awareness that the reality is not the most favorable for the reduction of milk in the region, but with the resilience of all, and the support of our partners and customers, we are confident that we will continue our mission, which is to preserve an ancestral activity and the authenticity of a unique product in the world.

The start of production of Serra da Estrela Cheese, the True Serra da Estrela, the PDO, as a genuine product that ensures the exclusive integration of milk from the region’s native sheep, thus represents the resumption of activity and an increased form of motivation to rebuild such a part of the relevant economic activity in the Serra da Estrela region.

Visiting the Region and privileging its products will always be the best way to support the recovery of Serra da Estrela, its residents and the companies that resiliently continue to develop their activity.