The States won’t be encouraging the island’s only commercial dairy to resume cheese production.
The President of the States Trading Supervisory Board, which oversees Guernsey Dairy, said simply this morning: “I can only confirm that we have no plans to re-commence making cheese”.
Deputy Peter Roffey was answering questions posed by Deputy John Gollop, following the recent announcement that the dairy will no longer be making any cheese and that once current supplies sell out that will be the end of all Guernsey Dairy branded cheeses.
“Stopping cheese production will provide space within the current dairy that is rightly needed to maintain more critical operations, namely the production of liquid milk that is central to the whole function and purpose of the Guernsey Dairy and the continuation of local dairy farming,” he explained.
When it was announced that Guernsey Dairy was stopping cheese production, it was also confirmed that there would be new investments made in milk packing areas.
Deputy Gollop remains concerned at the loss of heritage and the cultural importance of Guernsey Dairy cheese production though.
He described it as “prize-winning” and a “tasty, niche, much loved product”. He also referenced the dairy industry’s importance to the island’s wider heritage, community, ecology, and identity.
In that vein, he also asked Deputy Lindsey de Sausmarez, in her capacity as President of the Committee for the Environment and Infrastructure, about the decision by Guernsey Dairy to stop making cheese.
She said that is an operational issue for the dairy, so is not a matter for her committee but she did say that any new ideas that further the promotion of the island’s dairy industry would be supported by E&I.
“The Committee for Economic Development is responsible for business development, but my committee would certainly welcome new enterprises which support the dairy industry, or, more widely, Guernsey’s landscape and environment,” she said.