The Charlevoix region of Quebec has long been known for producing high-quality lamb, but when restaurants in Montreal and even as far away as Paris began passing off other lambs under the “Charlevoix” name on their menus, Rich Pirog said Charlevoix farmers knew they had a problem.

The farmers who raised Charlevoix lamb knew they had to act quickly to protect the high-quality product that consumers had linked with their lamb, so they filed for brand protection from the Canadian government, said Pirog, program manager for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

The farmers’ story and the steps they took will be presented during “Surviving Globalization by Producing Differently: Charlevoix’s Lamb Label,” on Thursday, partly sponsored by the Leopold Center.

Charlevoix Agrotourism Coordinator Mario Duchesne and Local Development Counselor Nancy Chabot from the Charlevoix region will present the steps and difficulties that the Canadian farmers faced and how Iowa farmers can learn from them.

Pirog said the United States, and specifically Iowa, can learn a lot from the steps Canada has taken in terms of geographic brand names.

“Charlevoix is an example of how Canadian farmers have used place, culture, history and tradition to brand a meat product that brings a premium in the marketplace because of its high quality and limited quantity,” Pirog said.

Pirog said because of the U.S. urban and suburban perception of Iowa as a farm state, Iowa has the possibility of gaining a competitive advantage in the development of Iowa place-based food brands.

“The Delicious Apple, Muscatine Melon, Maytag Blue Cheese, and region-characteristic wines are all examples of place-based foods that could increase economic benefits for Iowa farmers, processors, and rural communities,” Pirog said.

Roxanne Clemens, managing director for the Midwest Agribusiness Trade Research and Information Center, the other sponsor of the seminar, agreed that the seminar will help inform Iowans about opportunities to better protect their place-based foods.

Clemens said the Charlevoix lamb label will be the first North American agricultural product to obtain legal protection similar to the geographical indications used to brand products in the European Union.

“The European Union currently uses geographic indications, or GIs, to market highly differentiated, quality-assured foods based on historical, cultural, social, climatic and ecological factors that make the product unique,” Pirog said.

The geographic indications serve to identify a product or good as originating in a region or locality where its quality, reputation, or other characteristics are clearly attributable to its geographic region, offering farmers an expansion as the only avenue to remain profitable through farming, Pirog said.

“GIs are the strictest form of product information in the world,” Clemens said.

“In the current round of World Trade Organization negotiations, the EU and other countries are seeking to expand protection through GIs. If they achieve the full range of protection they are seeking, many U.S. producers and processors could no longer use many product names currently treated as generic, such as feta cheese.”

U.S. law provides a certification mark, a type of trademark, that can serve a purpose similar to GI protection.

Clemens said it protects one or more products and one or more producers or manufacturers of the products within a specified region.

The lecture will be at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in 2050 Agronomy Hall.