Zootecnia biologica, Parmigiano-Reggiano e unifeed: aspetti economici e qualitativi nella produzione del latte.

ORGANIC ZOOTECHNICS, PARMIGIANO REGGIANO AND UNIFEED: ECONOMIC AND QUALITATIVE ASPECTS OF MILK PRODUCTION. The introduction of the unifeed system in the production area of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is fairly recent. Reservations regarding its introduction initially sprang from the fear that the quality and typical nature of a cheese that is unique throughout the world might be jeopardised. In this study we have attempted to quantify the economic effects produced on the enterprise dedicated to the production of organic milk for Parmigiano Reggiano as a result of the introduction of the unifeed system, as well as the effects produced on the quality of the milk itself. Thanks to the introduction of the unifeed technique, milk production costs have dropped by 22% in six years, notwithstanding the new investments that proved to be necessary. Such reduction in costs, moreover, came about at a faster rate (19%) compared to the reference farm group which had not adopted the use of unifeed. The quality of the milk also improved notably, both as regards its absolute values and compared to that of the other farms supplying the cheese factory that had not adopted the use of unifeed. The higher quality score of the milk produced earned the supplying farm a bonus from the cheese factory.