FRANCE is a country with a love for dairy, producing 24 billion litres of milk from on 16,000 farms.
It is also a country embroiled in Australia's free trade agreement negotiations with the European Union (EU).
Data from Dairy Australia confirms Australians also love dairy food. But as I learned on a recent visit to France, there are stark contrasts in the way dairy is produced and consumed in Australia.
I went to France as a guest of the National Farmers Federation to learn about agriculture in France.
It was a postponed reciprocal visit, after a delegation of French farmers toured Australia in late 2019 - ahead of a major disruption to our way of life, of which we are all too familiar.
One thing I observed on this recent trip, and which is not at all familiar for Australians, is that fresh milk is hard to find in France.
Wherever we travelled, the locals drank UHT milk.
In the supermarket we saw copious amounts of cheese.
However, the only milk to be found was a small section of UHT.
It seems the French are satisfied with UHT.
As one local said about the French consumers "we don't drink milk, we eat it".
No case for GIs on cheese names
Other observations from my visit are far more serious.
The EU is trying to force Australia into accepting a geographical indications (GIs) claim as part of the free trade agreement between Australia and the EU.
This would restrict Australian producers' use of more than 50 cheese names deemed to hark back to European heritage.
This case being pushed upon us is questionable.
At the International Agricultural Show (SIA) in Paris, we tasted delicious comté cheese.
It is a semi-hard cheese made, as we witnessed, by enthusiastic cheesemakers.
The host had the delegation enthralled by his story of how the cheese was made only from Montbeliarde cows and the challenges faced by its farmers and manufacturers.
The name, provenance and allure of comté was clearly important to him.
However, it is hard to justify when comté is also available wrapped in home-brand packaging in major French supermarkets.
If it really is a premium product, why would it be sold in home-brand packaging?
I returned from my time in France still questioning the case for GIs.
Stronger together than we are apart
Setting aside that argument, French and Australian dairy farmers have a lot to learn from each other.
One of these lessons is that we are stronger together than we are apart.
I was impressed at the number of co-operatives still operating in France; these are not simply processing co-ops, as we know them in Australia.
This business model may be supported by there being many small farms of 100-150 hectares.
French farmers embrace machinery co-operatives, marketing co-operatives and labour co-operatives - many of which often spanned multiple commodities.
On the other hand, Australian farmers are lucky to have greater consultation with government.
You just have to look at the way the French government are implementing a ban on glyphosate use to appreciate the carrot and the stick approaches in practice.
It is easy to become parochial when reflecting, but both countries would do well to focus on the carrot and not the stick.
That applies not just to farming practices or government, but also to the free trade agreement itself.
There is great opportunity for both countries in the EU FTA if we can all work together.
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