With the support of CONSULAI, APROLEP (Associação dos Produtores de Leite de Portugal) in collaboration with AJADP (Associação dos Jovens Agricultores do Distrito do Porto) organized the National Milk Colloquium 2019 on November 29th between 10 am and 6 pm, in the Auditorium of the Hotel Axis Ofir (Esposende), with the following themes: "How to enhance the value of grass in milk production?", "Animal welfare and the image of milk production", "Raising cows and producing milk in a sustainable environment" and "The challenge of communicating agriculture".

Around 300 participants are expected. Registration is compulsory and places are limited.

The first theme, "How to make the most of grass in milk production?" will have a round table discussion moderated by the journalist Nuno Marques of the magazine "Ruminants" and special intervention by César Resch Zafra, from the Mabegondo Agricultural Research Centre (Galicia), who together with other national experts (Carlos Solipa Neves and Joel Presa) and a young farmer and service provider (José Maia) will help refine strategies to improve the production, harvest and conservation of grass - what is currently a second crop complementary to maize but which we can improve as a protein source capable of reducing imports of protein crops for animal feed.

The second theme, "Animal Welfare and the Image of Milk Production", will be moderated by Carlos Neves, APROLEP vice-president, and will have the intervention of university professor Joaquim Cerqueira, two specialists in animal welfare - veterinarians Isabel Santos and Luís Pinho - and also Cristina Maia, zootechnician and member of the project "Milk is life". The aim is to address scientific advances in dairy cow welfare, their implementation and certification in the field, and the concerns and perceptions of consumers and the surrounding society on this issue.

The third theme, "Raising cows and producing milk in a sustainable environment", will be moderated by Marisa Costa, Vice-President of APROLEP, with contributions from Henrique Trindade and David Fangueiro - researchers and university professors - to clarify how to cultivate the fields and produce milk, raising cows and reducing environmental impacts, reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and integrating into a natural cycle where carbon sequestration and the reduction of the use of chemical fertilizers are possible.

In the last theme: "The challenge of communicating agriculture" will be moderated by Nélia Silva, of Comunicland, and the intervention of João Villalobos, a communication specialist. Successive attacks on agriculture and livestock, in particular the production of milk and beef, will be topics addressed in the latter segment.

The presence of the Regional Director of Agriculture and Fisheries of the North, Engª Carla Alves, is confirmed.

To celebrate and demonstrate the quality of the dairy products that result from the transformation of good Portuguese milk, there will be a breakfast and a dairy snack.