Archive for May, 2009
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How Danish ideas shaped the Model Dairy
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
When Louis Dupont set up his dairy cooperative in 1905, he applied the lessons he had learnt in Denmark, where he had visited dairy cooperative some years previously to understand what the Scandinavians were doing.
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Gold in the butter
Friday, May 15th, 2009
François Demagny transferred the Model Dairy buttermaking business to Louis Dupont in 1889. Knowing that his project to make long life butter would require significant quantities of milk, Dupont set up a cooperative with local producers to supply 800 litres of milk a day. Business developed, but so did competition on the Brazilian market. Faced [...]
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Butter moves from farm to workshop
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Butter merchant François Demagny joined forces with two other merchants to build a modern buttermaking workshop around 1880. The plan was to centralise buttermaking and buy milk directly from farmers instead of finished butter. The trio was later joined by a young industrialist from Paris, Louis Dupont. Having travelled extensively in Denmark to study the [...]
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Butter across the sea
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Normandy butter travelled far and wide during the 19th century, taken by transatlantic steamers from Le Havre to the Americas (Isigny salted butter had already been traded in Brazil since the 18th century). The ships that left Le Havre loaded with butter to Rio de Janeiro, returned laden with coffee on the homeward leg. There [...]
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Railways spread English appetite for butter
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
When provision merchant John Sainsbury set up shop in London’s Drury Lane, he built his business with the slogan: “The best butter in London”. His best butters came from Normandy and were a valued part of the business for years to come. Normandy butter was on show at London’s first Universal Exhibition in 1867, where [...]
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How steam shifted French food output
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
Long before grain started arriving in France from the New World, steam had already transformed the way in which goods, particularly food, were being traded around France. The arrival of the railways
