Differences in the typology of dairy systems producing artisanal cheese and those producing only raw milk in Paraná State, Brazil

ABSTRACT We sought to develop a typology describing structural, production, and socioeconomic characteristics of dairy systems that produce artisanal cheese and compare it with that of systems that produce only raw milk. Data on 204 raw milk producers and 58 artisanal cheese producers in Paraná State, Brazil, were collected through on-site surveys and subjected to descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and means tests. Descriptive analyses were applied to characterize the sample and artisanal cheese production processes. Factor analysis identified the following three typological components: system production capacity, herd breed and milking characteristics, and farmer social characteristics. Farmers were divided into two groups, as follows: non-cheese producers (NCP) and artisanal cheese producers (ACP). Groups of farmers were compared in terms of typological components. It was found that ACP have smaller structure and production scale and focus less on herd breed and practices for improving milk quality than NCP. These results suggest that artisanal cheese production is a strategy to add value to milk that does not meet institutional or market requirements for transactions with the dairy industry, providing a foothold for producers to remain in the dairy business. Groups of farmers (ACP and NCP) do not differ in social indicators of typology.

摘要：本研究旨在构建一套分类体系，用以刻画生产手工奶酪的乳制品系统在结构、生产及社会经济维度的特征，并将其与仅生产生鲜乳的乳制品系统进行对比分析。研究通过实地调研收集了巴西巴拉那州204名生鲜乳生产者与58名手工奶酪生产者的相关数据，随后开展描述性分析、因子分析与均值检验。其中，描述性分析用于刻画研究样本与手工奶酪生产流程的特征；因子分析提取出三类分类维度：系统生产能力、畜群品种与挤奶特征、生产者社会特征。研究者将生产者划分为两组，即非奶酪生产者（Non-Cheese Producers, NCP）与手工奶酪生产者（Artisanal Cheese Producers, ACP），并基于上述分类维度对两组生产者进行对比。结果显示，相较于NCP，ACP的系统结构与生产规模更小，且在畜群品种选择与提升牛乳质量的生产实践方面投入程度更低。本研究结果表明，手工奶酪生产可作为为不符合乳品行业交易合规性或市场要求的生鲜乳实现增值的路径，为生产者持续经营乳制品业务提供了立足空间。两组生产者在分类体系的社会特征维度上未表现出显著差异。