The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry announced today that the Azores Milk and Dairy Products Centre (CALL) will commission a comparative study on the Azores milk to an internationally recognised entity and proceed with the classification of butter, thus contributing to the promotion of milk produced in the archipelago.
 
"At the next CALL meeting, the Regional Government will propose an independent comparative exploratory study on the Azores milk with milk procedure nationally and internationally," said João Ponte. He spoke on the island of São Miguel at the delivery ceremony of the "Producer of Excellence" award, an initiative organised São Miguel Young Farmers' Association.
 
João Ponte considered that this will be a "very important step towards a better and more objective comparative study of the Azores milk. It may also provide an objective and independent support to future marketing campaigns intended to promote eventual differentiating features of Azorean milk products."
 
With regard to the classification of butter, the Regional Secretary emphasised that "the process is already in progress" with the industries for the recognition of the product, through a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) or Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).
 
"Both initiatives aim to enhance the promotion of milk and, consequently, boost the industry's income," João Ponte said, adding that it is "fundamental to continue the effort to add value to the production of milk of excellence" in the archipelago.
 
In his speech, the Regional Secretary emphasised that the union between agriculture and science and between knowledge and research must be increasingly stronger in a changing world, given the economic and strategic potential it contains. In this regard, he pointed out the example of biological milk that is already being produced in the Azores.
 
"Producing more and better with more quality, investing in differentiating products and bringing more added value are goals to be achieved," João Ponte said, adding that the agricultural sector was the one that has evolved the most. Nowadays, it is better prepared and the industry is modernised.