(Cheese)head of the class
If Green Bay wasn’t already the cheesiest place on Earth, try adding 42 renowned dairy experts and three semi loads of the best stuff in America. The biennial United States Championship Cheese Contest was hosted at Green Bay’s Resch Expo Feb. 21-23. While a winter storm altered some of the festivities, the winners were still crowned as planned Feb. 23 from among 2,249 entries representing 35 states.
The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association has hosted the event, which is considered the nation’s premier technical dairy product competition, since 1981.
Nine of this year’s 20 finalists hail from Wisconsin, including both the first and second runners-up. The second runner-up was a medium cheddar from Associated Milk Producers Inc. in Blair, and the first runner-up was the Vintage Cupola — a semi-hard raw milk cheese that gets its name from the small wooden pinnacles that top Wisconsin barns — made by Door Artisan Cheese Company of Egg Harbor for Appleton’s Red Barn Family Farms.
The Door/Red Barn entry was one of two New North region cheeses to make the finals. A Cracker Barrel aged reserved cheddar produced by Agropur in Weyauwega was also featured among the top 20 entries.
“Europa,” an aged gouda produced by Arethusa Farm in Bantam, Connecticut, took home top honors. New North manufacturers Sartori (2017, 2009), LaClare Farms (2011), BelGioioso (1991) and Land O Lakes (1993, 1981) are all former champions.
Of the 118 classes, Wisconsin cheesemakers earned 54 best-in-class gold medals — including Pine River Cheese Spread in the flavored cold pack category; the Newton company is featured on the cover of the March issue of Insight on Business. California was second with nine golds, Idaho third with eight. Two classes were added for 2023: grated and crumbled. The contest also recognizes top makers of butter, yogurt and whey.
“The men and women of the U.S. dairy processing industry are exceptionally passionate and dedicated to crafting quality products,” said John Umhoefer, executive director of the WCMA, “and that commitment shines through in the high caliber of this year’s winners.”
— Kate Bruns
Powered-up learning
The second semester of classes at Luxemberg-Casco Schools this year took learning to the next level following the installation of five new pieces of machining equipment for student use, including a FANUC robotic arm, two Haas mini-CNC mills, an injection molder and an embroidery machine. With the help of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, L-C received a Technical Education Equipment Fast Forward Grant of $25,000 from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, and four area businesses — LaserForm, Kono Kogs, Olson Fabrication and Rol-Tec — contributed about $30,000 to support the purchase. Mike Snowberry, the district’s director of learning services, says the equipment has bolstered growth of L-C’s “Fab Lab” program, which is now engaging more than 100 students.
Big break
The Great Lakes Winter Commerce Act, authored by U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and signed into law late last year, has authorized $350 million for a new Great Lakes ice breaker to boost commerce and increase lake cargo. Speaking in support of the project in January at Ace Marine at the Port of Green Bay, Baldwin called the Great Lakes “critical for our Made in Wisconsin economy.” The Ohio-based Lake Carriers’ Association, an advocacy group promoting Great Lakes shipping, says the U.S. had 20 ice breakers in operation in 1997 but has only 11 today; the organization adds it is hopeful that construction of the new ice breaker will happen faster than the 11 years estimated by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Connecting creators
With the number of U.S. manufacturing job openings averaging 830,000 per month over the past year, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturing Institute have partnered with FactoryFix on a new digital career resources platform designed to help students, parents, career influencers and job seekers easily explore modern manufacturing. “Creators Connect,” which NAM says is the first and only unified platform to search jobs and programs across the entire manufacturing industry, is now live at CreatorsWanted.org. Since 2021, Creators Wanted has built an email network of more than 1 million students, early career entrants and potential career influencers.
