Quebec cheesemaker gets federal funding

Apr 03, 2018

Fromagerie Bergeron will complete a $20 million renovation within four years

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The federal government is helping a Quebec cheese processor acquire the latest dairy technology.

Fromagerie Bergeron, which specializes in Gouda-style firm cheese, will use the government’s $3.9-million investment to install robotic equipment and to further automate its production lines.

These improvements, which are part of a four-year $20-million renovation, will help the plant in Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Que. increase its overall production and purchase more milk from local dairy farmers.

“It’s very ambitious, very daring what we’re planning to do,” Roger Bergeron, president of Fromagerie Bergeron, said in a Mar. 29 company statement. “The government’s support is to modernize and improve our efficiency. At the same time, we want to develop new products. We have innovative ideas and we need other (equipment).”

Canadian cheesemakers produced 331,000 kilograms of Gouda in January, according to Statistics Canada.

Quebec is Canada’s largest cheese-producing province. Cheesemakers in this province produced more than 234 million kilograms of cheese in 2017, according to the Canadian Dairy Information Centre.

Quebec’s dairy industry contributes more than $7 billion to the provincial economy and the government is happy to support the provincial dairy sector.

“I’m glad the Government of Canada is contributing to keeping the dairy processing industry modern and competitive and enabling new market opportunities,” Jean-Clause Poissant, parliamentary secretary to agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay, said in a Mar. 29 government statement.

Farms.com has reached out provincial dairy producer and dairy processor organizations for comment on this investment.

gaus-nataliya/iStock/Getty Images Plus photo

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