In February 2025, the Lait Faneurs du Périgord collective visited the AlterMonts dairy in Saint-Denis-sur-Coise, in the Monts du Lyonnais. Welcomed by Jérôme from La Ferme des Deux Hélices, we were able to see from the inside a collective dairy model that mirrors exactly what we are building in the Périgord.
Founded in 2020 by four organic farms, AlterMonts brings together under one roof a processing workshop, an ageing cave and a direct-sales shop. Each member farm supplies its milk and takes part in the governance of the structure. This is exactly the philosophy we carry with the La Tour-Blanche project: collective tools, decided and managed by the producers themselves.
One of the key lessons from this visit concerns the partnership that AlterMonts has established with Biolait. If the workshop temporarily stops — due to breakdown, maintenance or a drop in demand — Biolait steps in to collect the member farms' milk. This safety net is invaluable: it reassures producers who hesitate to commit to a collective project, by guaranteeing that their milk will always find an outlet. This is a path we are actively exploring for our own collective.
We were also able to observe their day-to-day organisation: production scheduling, quality control, task distribution among members. Practical details that, taken together, make the difference between a theoretical project and a dairy that runs smoothly every day.
The welcome from Jérôme and his team was remarkably generous. The farming community has this rare quality of sharing experience and lessons learned without reserve. This visit strengthened our conviction: the collective model works, and the producers of the Périgord have everything it takes to succeed.
"Seeing AlterMonts operate day to day is concrete proof that our project is feasible. It gives us energy for what comes next."
Thank you to the entire AlterMonts team for the warm welcome. The next step for the collective: applying the lessons from this visit to the design of our own workshop at La Tour-Blanche.