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.
The committee seat nobody fights for
One of our longtime Food Safety Committee members walked us through two years of reading draft guidance nobody else wanted to touch, and why she keeps raising her…
Read postA firmer forecast on a flat supply
A federal supply report raised its cheese price forecast this week while holding milk production nearly flat, and Wisconsin's specialty output kept climbing right alongside it.
Read postWhat it takes to get a wheel into this year's competition
Conference registration opened two weeks ago. The competition entry window is a separate, smaller decision, and it's the one members wait too long to make.
Read postReading your cave before the humid months arrive
Late spring is when a cave that's held steady all winter starts drifting. A look at what actually changes, what to check first, and the course built around…
Read postThe sensory certificate that gets you onto a judging panel
Every year a handful of members ask how to move from entering the competition to judging it. The answer runs through one certificate and a course most people…
Read postThe credential that comes before the others
Spring's wave of new memberships is also a wave of Cheese Foundations Certificate enrollments, and it's worth being plain about what that first credential is actually for.
Read postThe first Saturday of the market season
A member spotlight on a small farmstead's opening market weekend of the season, and the six months of quieter work that made it look effortless from behind the…
Read postThe label rule that skipped over cheese
A federal rule finalized this spring tightens what counts as a legitimate origin claim on a food label, but it was written for meat and poultry, and members…
Read postWhat buyers mean by "something new"
Specialty cheese trend coverage this spring keeps circling the same word, "new," and it's worth unpacking what buyers actually mean by it before you plan your next release.
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