  EU Regulations, falling levels of milk production, a renewed love affair with saturate fats in the West, and greater demand for pastries in Asia, have created a perfect storm leading some to call the current butter shortage the worst since the second world war. A shortage that has left pastry makers and consumers scrambling to find the most popular and best quality salty butter variety from Brittany. Brittany, at the western most part of France, with its rich farm lands and adept climate has long been prized as a top milk, butter producer in Europe. A butter cherished in local delicacies like kouign amann, far, gateau breton, and crepes, but also known as a secret ingredient of top chefs and bakers worldwide. Some of the most sought after butter in the current shortage is the Breton butter flecked with large, coarse grains of salt "Fleur de sel" harvested on marshes in Guérande. The fluctuation of butter prices stem from 2015 when the Europe Union abolished milk quotas causing an initial flood of milk supplies followed by a collapse in global prices prompting dairy farmers to cut output. A cutting of output that hadn't anticipated a jump in demand coming from USA due to studies claiming that butter decrease risks of cancer, arthritis, and osteoporosis. A rekindling of Western consumers taste for butter coupled with growing demand from China helping to lead to the current shortage. The deep shortage of high quality Breton butter does have a special French twist due to a dysfunctional nature of price controls, where supermarket groups aren't passing along price surges to locally based farmers. As dairy farmers complain they get little benefit from the growing butter markets, French consumers have not yet seen butter prices rise at the checkout because supermarket groups fix their prices once a year. In the last 6 months, a 250 gram stick of butter in Germany has climbed 52% while only 6% in France. The next price fixing in France will take place in February, meaning butter suppliers will currently get better margins by selling elsewhere. Predications of surging croissant prices and empty shelves in stores will continue to persist leaving lovers of Breton butter who couldn't dream of substituting butter with cheaper margarine, rushing to buy and freezing it, worsening the depleting supermarket stocks.  Photo credit : Getty Images
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 La Ville de Rennes et la Bretagne sont résolument tournées vers l’International. Forts de ce constat, l’Institut franco-américain et la faculté des Sciences économiques de Rennes 1 s’associent pour proposer aux entrepreneurs, étudiants et personnes intéressées par le commerce international un temps spécifique où l’on parle d’économie dans la langue des affaires! L’idée : un intervenant spécialiste présente un sujet d’économie en anglais pendant 20 minutes puis échange en anglais avec l’auditoire. Quatre rendez-vous sont prévus cette saison au grand salon de l’Institut franco-américain. Charles Kergaravat, président de Breizh Amerika sera le premier conférencier de l'Eco-Club le 24 octobre à 18h30. Conférence en anglais sur le thème "Pourquoi et Comment faire du Business aux USA". Venez à cette soirée pour découvrir de bonnes pratiques, astuces et la business culture américaine ainsi que comment Breizh Amerika oeuvre à aider l'écosystème entrepreneurial en Bretagne et favoriser les échanges entre la Bretagne et les USA. L'Institut Franco-Americain à Rennes mardi, 24 Octobre à 18h30 7 quai Chateaubriand Rennes, France 35000 Réservation obligatoire : [email protected] L’Institut franco-américain Lieu d’échanges au cœur de la cité rennaise, l’Institut franco-américain est une association loi 1901 reconnue d’intérêt général. Depuis plus de cinquante ans (1961), l’Institut franco-américain initie et développe des rencontres à Rennes entre français, américains et américanophiles afin de favoriser une meilleure compréhension entre les peuples et renforcer les liens d’amitié entre les deux pays. Espace de programmation culturelle ( exposition, cinéma, conférences), bibliothèque, l’Institut est protéiforme et propose également des ponts avec le monde l’entreprise via son Eco Club ou par l’organisation d’événements privés (dîner des entrepreneurs, soirée prospects et clients dans le cadre d’un mécénat…)   Fañch, born 11 mai 2017 in Quimper (Finistère). (photo credit: Florence Malésieux / FRANCE 3) A young couple from Brittany, France could never have imagined the breton name they'd chosen for their newborn would create such a judicial firestorm. The use of the name "Fañch" was banned in September by a tribunal in Quimper stating that the letter "ñ" was incompatible with French law. A decision that has prompted the Regional Council of Brittany to petition the Minister of Justice of France to allow the name. Brittany, the western most peninsula of France, has long had a tradition of un-French sounding names and places names due to the extensive use of the Breton, a celtic language native to the area. French policing of names has lighted since a court ruling in the 1966 allowing Breton names to be officially used administratively. The court ruling in Quimper on September 13th was surprising to many as Breton names have become very popular throughout Brittany. The bewildering ruling forbid the use of the letter ñ stating, ""would be tantamount to breaking the will of our rule of law to maintain the unity of the country and equality without distinction of origin"*. The letter ñ is common in Breton language but also Spanish, Basque, Galicien, Asturien, Guarani, Tagalog, Hassanya, and Wolof. The court's ruling also stated that ñ was not part of the French language, a reason for it not being used in names. A theory debunked a few days later by Bernez Rouz, President of the Culture Council of Brittany, when he presented numerous official French documents highlighting the use of the letter ñ for centuries, proving it in fact to be part of French orthographic tradition. The Region Council of Brittany voted this week to solicit the Minister of Justice to ask for the authorization of the diacritical sign and stating that its use in no way threatens the national unity of France. The September 13th court decision is currently being appealed but the affair seems to have many in France questioning why only one official language is recognized in a Republic.where many others are native to the country. |
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Breizh Amerikais an organization established to create, facilitate, promote, and sponsor wide-ranging innovative and collaborative cultural and economic projects that strengthen and foster relations and cooperation between the United States of America and the region of Brittany, France. 
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