Normandy mobilizes to save the regional cow

In Caen

Director of the Grosdoit company based in Rouen (Seine-Maritime), Anne-Sophie Grosdoit, which supplies Normande beef to the tables of the Élysée, the National Assembly, or even those of a few captains of industry, sound the alarm. “The start of the school year in September is going to be very hard, we are already fighting over the parts”she says.

At issue: the gradual disappearance, over the past few decades, of cows endemic to Normandy in favor of Prim’Holstein, imported from the Netherlands, supposed to be more productive in milk, less fatty for butchers and less expensive for breeders. The retirement of small farmers who were still working in Normandy and whose succession is no longer assured, is accelerating the phenomenon. There are up to 200 fewer farms per year. “Today, we are in a critical situation where the demand for Normande meat is starting to exceed the supply”adds Anne-Sophie Grosdoit, who praises her more…