More than 100 representative of farmhouse and artisanal cheese from 13 different countries joined the meeting hosted by the member “Association of Rural Cheesemakers of Slovenia” in the suggestive location of the lake Bohinj.

The program was full of interesting activities turning around the main theme: the mountain cheeses.

The first day all the guest were taken by bus in a 1-day-tour visiting different high mountain productive realities and learning about local cheesemaking technics.

The day 2 was focused on the General Assembly, with the election of Kerstin Jürss
(Sweden) as new President, after 9 years of presidency of Frédéric Blanchard, and the new Board:

• President: Kerstin Jürss (Sweden)
• Vice presidents: Frédéric Blanchard (France), Marion Roeleveld (Ireland), Irena Orešnik (Slovenia)
• Treasurer: Marc Albrecht-Seidel (Germany)

The works of the General Assembly also included the approval of the budget 2021 and the report of activity of Hygiene, Technology, Lobbing, Marketing and STEC workgroups.

The change of coordination was also announced: Yolande Moulem (France) left the place of coordinator to Barbara Hart (Nederland). The big changes in the management of Face Network has been warmly welcomed by the General Assembly while not hiding moments of emotion and gratitude towards the outgoing president and coordinator.

In the afternoon the group of participants visited a couple of farmhouse mountain
cheesemakers and tasted their production.

On the day 3 took place the International Conference on Mountain Cheeses, with 8
interesting topics afforded by both international and Slovenian speakers.
The theme of mountain cheese has been developed very well during the whole day through microbiological, marketing, sustainability and cultural aspects.

At lunch time the traditional FACE Network international cheese buffet was set up nearby. About 70 cheeses coming from all the 13 countries present were shared and tasted by the attendees. The Conference ended with a round table on mountain cheese, where FACE representatives and Slovenian authorities and producers dialogued about the future of mountain productions.

On the day 4 all participants were invited at the 3rd Slovenian Cheese Festival before
leaving back home.

As always happens in the Annual Meetings, also this time has been a great occasion for the participants to meet each other personally, sharing and exchanging experiences and
building interpersonal relations and friendship. This makes our network a place where it’s possible to work together among diversities to preserve farmhouse and artisan
cheesemaking.

If you missed it this time, see you next year in Switzerland!