Rising heat forces Alpine cheese cellars to adopt cooling technology

Rising temperatures are disrupting the ageing of Alpine cheese, forcing more mountain dairies to install artificial cooling and humidification systems, SRF reported.

At Binneralp, an alpine dairy operation in the Upper Valais’s Binntal valley, about 4,000 wheels mature each summer. Workers clean and turn every wheel by hand each day. The cheese also needs stable temperature and humidity to mature properly, but this has become nearly impossible during the current heatwave without technical assistance.

“The warmer the nights, the more the temperature in the cellar rises above 16 degrees,” said Philipp Schmid of the Binneralp cooperative. Ideal ageing conditions require stable temperatures of between 12 and 13 degrees both day and night.

When cheese becomes too warm, it begins to sweat, affecting its quality and especially the flavour, said Thomas Aeschlimann, a dairy consultant at the Swiss federal research institute Agroscope. Drying also causes financial losses because the cheese loses weight.

For many years, the natural coolness of the ground provided sufficient refrigeration. But milder winters and reduced snowfall are now warming the soil deep into the cellars. Some producers have tried cooling with water, but they too are reaching their limits.

Binneralp responded by spending 500,000 francs to renovate its dairy and cellar. Cooling pipes installed in the ceiling keep the cellar at a constant 12 to 13 degrees, while water misting devices on the floor maintain humidity above 90 percent.

“We had to invest to maintain our quality standards,” said Schmid, who is responsible for cheese quality at Binneralp.

Many Alpine dairy operators are now considering whether to make similar investments, said Ernst Wandfluh, president of the Swiss Alpine Farming Association. Climate change is a reality, he said: “We cannot stop it, but we can adapt, and that is what we are in the middle of doing.”

Wandfluh, who represents the Swiss People’s Party in the National Council, is calling for more funding for Alpine farms that milk their own cows and process the milk. He wants the current additional payment of 40 centimes per milked cow per day to be increased to two francs.

Not every operation will be able to renovate its own cellar. Some could instead mature their cheese away from the mountain pastures in central cheese warehouses, which already operate in the cantons of Bern, Valais, Fribourg and Glarus.

Aeschlimann said no major new warehouses are currently being planned, but existing facilities may be used more extensively than they were 10 years ago.

Binneralp has chosen to keep maturing its cheese on the mountain. “We have to adapt and respond, sometimes improvising,” Schmid said, so that the cheese can continue to meet the highest quality standards.