November 19th, 2025 - Climate Change Threatens Italy’s Cows and Its Burrata Production

In Italy’s Puglia region, fourth-generation cheesemaker Angelantonio Tafuno is rethinking how he works as climate change threatens the tradition his family has carried for decades. At 32, he talks like many young Italians craving a slower, more sustainable pace of life, but his shift toward producing fewer burrata and mozzarella balls — and experimenting with specialty aged cheeses — is driven by necessity. Extreme heat across Italy has led cows to produce significantly less milk, forcing small cheesemakers to adapt or face collapse.

Puglia, home to much of Italy’s famed burrata, has seen rising temperatures and severe drought cut deeply into milk production. Tafuno says he feels the effects directly when he works with the milk each morning: stressed cows produce thinner milk that takes longer to curdle and yields less cheese. Scientists confirm his observations, noting that heat stress can reduce a cow’s milk output by up to 20 to 30 percent and worsen the fat and protein content essential for high-quality cheese.

Data from dairy researchers show milk production in Italy has dropped sharply across recent summers, creating what some economists describe as a looming “milk apocalypse.” With demand for Italian cheeses booming in restaurants and export markets, producers like Tafuno often can’t fulfill orders. Some farmers have tried to mitigate the heat with cooling systems like fans and misters, but they are expensive — and only partially effective.

The pressure on farmers is immense. Rising feed and energy costs, combined with climate-related losses, mean nearly one in ten of Italy’s dairy farms may soon close. Many producers are turning to tradition and small-scale methods to survive. Some, like Tafuno, invest in hardy, low-yield cattle breeds like the Podolica and focus on artisanal varieties that require less milk. Others adjust breeding cycles to avoid summer lactation, using ancient techniques to work around modern climate realities.

At larger dairies like the Sanguedolce factory in Andria, technology plays a role, with precise temperature controls and careful monitoring to avoid wasting even 1 percent of their precious milk supply. But smaller farmers often rely on intuition and old-world methods — echoing practices as far back as Homer’s “Odyssey,” where cheese was made in cool caves.

Across Puglia, cheesemakers now operate within two competing worlds: one driven by industrial efficiency and global demand, the other by the natural constraints of the land and its animals. As climate change accelerates, many in the region say the future of Italy’s beloved cheeses may depend not on producing more, but on producing differently — accepting smaller yields to preserve both tradition and the fragile environment that sustains it.

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster) - Serendipity (sair-un-DIP-uh-tee) - Serendipity refers to luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for, or to an instance of such luck.

Example: They found each other by pure serendipity.

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