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 class spread and your price sheet
Class III and Class IV milk prices closed 2021 further apart than they opened it, and that spread is worth understanding before you set January prices.
Read postA narrower catalog and the case for a credential
Recent industry research found artisan producers making fewer varieties than a few years ago, which raises the value of doing the ones you keep at a documented standard.
Read postA quota dispute you should know about
A dispute panel just ruled on how a trading partner is administering its dairy quotas, and it's worth understanding now even if your case never crosses a border.
Read postTwo milk prices changed places
Class IV moved above Class III into the new year, a reversal from the pattern most of our members budget around, and it changes what your January order…
Read postThe counter running on one fewer person
A cheesemonger at a small retail counter on how she's covering a holiday rush with a smaller crew than she planned for, and what she's letting go of…
Read postThe chemistry course nobody expected to fill
Cheese Chemistry's Prairie cohort is two weeks into a four-week virtual run. A look at why the least glamorous course we offer keeps filling up anyway.
Read postFirmer prices, farmers still underwater
Milk prices firmed all fall, but new federal cost data shows dairy farmers still losing money on every hundredweight. Why the federation's pricing-reform push isn't done.
Read postPut competition prep on your New Year's Eve
Workshop: Cedar Competition Prep runs in Chicago on December 31 — a small, deliberately in-person session for members entering next year's judging cycle.
Read postThe cohort that stayed a cohort
A composite from members who took a course together this year: what happens when a class of strangers on a video call keeps meeting long after the last…
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