Diversified cheeses are beautiful, but the operation is exhausting! They are rising against the tide of globalization.

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Previously on: in order to revive the lost thousand-year-old cheese and revive the lost valley culture, Agarda and Roberto of Italy and their friends formed a cooperative to defend local agriculture and diet, called "our Valley" (Valle Nostra). In addition to inheriting Montebre cheese, there are more than a dozen other kinds of cheese, as well as traditional grape varieties and beans brought back by Columbus from South America. The farm is a living agricultural museum. However, to go against the current in the raging waves of globalization is another soul-stirring story.

Diversified cheese farming is beautiful, but the operation is exhausting.

"one more time, I will still make the same choice. This is not just a livelihood income, but a way of life and life. The loss of population and the disappearance of traditional products are not the inevitable fate of the mountain areas, and we have proved that it is possible to change against the trend. " After the declaration, Robert looked back on the 18-year history and uttered the word "but" in earnest, then added: "functional diversified cheese farming is beautiful, but it requires a lot of investment, and maintaining operation makes us exhausted."

Working in the mountains is not leisurely and slow work. Despite the creation of 10 jobs for the mountain village and the help of assistants, Roberto and Agarda are spinning around like a top. they are bosses, buddies, shepherds, farmers, dairy farmers, and cooks and salesmen.

"the division of labor increases productivity and leads to wealth," Adam ∙ Adam Smith pointed out at the beginning of the Wealth of Nations. A craftsman cannot make a pin all day, but it is divided into processes such as drawing wire, straightening, cutting, sharpening, grinding the top, and loading needles. Each worker focuses on a single action, and each worker can produce an average of 5,000 pins a day.

Although the father of economics also pointed out that it was difficult to divide agriculture as carefully as manufacturing in the 18th century, many agriculture also embarked on the road of division of labor and scale in the 21st century. The diversified cultivation and breeding of "our Valley" echoes the concept of biodiversity, making the best use of a wide variety of products and reducing the waste of food materials. Although self-production and marketing reduces the restraint of middlemen, it also makes the work of the farm complicated and heavy. it's hard to fight in the market.

A few years ago, Roberto decided to hand over the livestock work to others. "We have to accept it. We can't do everything ourselves." His cousin raises cattle nearby, while Matteo Beccuti, a young man who insists on staying in the mountains, is in charge of herding 200 sheep.

Agada's good cooking is very popular in the bazaar (Photography / Zheng Jieyi)

Cross a bridge without a guardrail and leave our Valley Farm. Shuttling through the deep valley, below is a ribbon-like trickling stream, and the burly hills remind me of the word "Dragon and Tiger". There are no dragons and no tigers, but Agarda says there are wolves. "at night, you can see their bright eyes and covet the sheep."

I am more worried than the wolf in the wilderness that the earthly jackals, tigers and leopards devour the uneasily reborn Montepoli, Agarda and Roberto into the abyss under the blade.

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