Blog
Certification, education, advocacy, events, industry news and the members behind them — written by the Federation, for the people who make, age, sell and buy the cheese.
Two markets, one cheese case
Commodity cheese is drowning in surplus while our artisan members can't make enough to fill orders. Both things are true at once, and the gap is where our…
Read postThe cheese nobody can move
Cold-storage warehouses are holding more cheese than they ever have, exports are down, and farmgate milk prices are stuck. Here is what the federation is asking policymakers to…
Read postListeria and the small cave: what environmental monitoring actually looks like
Environmental monitoring sounds like a big-plant word, but it scales down fine. A look at what our Listeria Control course actually asks small creameries to do.
Read postReading the market without the data
With federal statistics only now catching back up after a five-week lapse, members are pricing January without the usual numbers. Here's what we do know.
Read postBuilding the swab map at Quincewick Creamery
Quality manager Aisha Bell walked us through her environmental monitoring program at Quincewick Creamery, sharing practical lessons on winter zone mapping, drain swabs, and sanitation hurdles for craft…
Read postWinter milk, calcium balance, and the make sheet
When dairy herds transition to winter rations, shifts in fat-to-protein ratios and soluble calcium can destabilize curd formation. Here is how craft creameries adjust make sheets and vat…
Read postRaw milk, aged curds, and the line at the state border
As state legislative sessions convene across the country, new bills on farmstead dairy sales are landing on committee dockets while artisan cheesemakers navigate federal sixty-day aging rules and…
Read postTwo workshops in February, and a July date
The Events Committee has the winter calendar out: packaging in Tandil on 18 February, food safety in Lancaster on 27 February, and the annual conference in Madison in…
Read postCredentials expire on their own schedule
January is when the certificate surfaces in a drawer and nobody remembers the date on it. Here is how long each of our seven credentials runs, and which…
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