ABOUT THE EVENT

This two-day virtual/online event is designed to provide exposure to new ideas and educational experiences for artisan cheesemakers – to help them advance their cheesemaking and business practices, as well as our industry as a whole.  While our content focuses on information to support professional cheesemakers, attendance is open to all, including other cheese industry professionals, amateur cheesemakers, the general public, and anyone who wants to dive more deeply into the world of cheese.

PRESENTATIONS WILL BE RECORDED AND AVAILABLE TO WATCH AT LEAST THROUGH THE END OF MARCH – in case you need to step away to milk, make cheese, delivery cheese, etc.

DATES

Thursday, February 16-Friday, February 17, 2023

SPEAKERS

• Mauro Coppa  Independent Researcher, French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) (Italy/France)
• Michael & Cressida Cains  Cheesemaker/Owner, Pecora Dairy (Robertson, Australia)
• Hannah Davis  Lecturer – Ruminant Nutrition, Newcastle University (United Kingdom)
• Rachel Dutton  Professor, University of California – San Diego (California, USA)
• Jesse Ketterman  Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, University of Maryland (Maryland, USA)
• Bronwen Percival  Technical Director, Neal’s Yard Dairy (United Kingdom)
• Maria Pippidis  County Director and Extension Educator, University of Delaware (Deleware, USA)
• Ned Powley Educator, University of Vermont and Managing Partner, Ten Insights Consulting Group (California, USA)
• Jeanne Ropars  CNRS Permanent Researcher, Laboratoire Ecologie, Systematique et Evolution (Paris, France)
• Stephanie Rovey  Owner, Grande Ronde Dairy (Oregon, USA)
• Michele Walfred  Communications Specialist, Master Gardener University of Delaware (Delaware, USA)
• Ben Wolfe  Associate Professor, The Wolfe Lab at Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts, USA)

RECORDING SESSIONS

We recorded all of our sessions.  If you had to step away to milk animals, make cheese, check in with kids, or anything else – you can go back to the Sched.com event platform and rewatch sessions through any session’s Details Page THROUGH MARCH 30.

PRESENTATION TOPICS

Thursday February 16

• Fungi Deep Dive: Did We, Humans, Make Cheese Fungi Cheesy? How we as humans have and are influencing the reproduction and sustainability of mold and bacteria used in cheese production…Are they dying out? Are cultures we add into cheese taking over natural bacteria? SPEAKER BIO: Jeanne Ropars studies parallel adaptation of cheese fungi. She is interested in the mechanisms involved in adaptation, including horizontal gene transfer, sexual reproduction, gene flow and genetic diversity. 
• Tools & resources for managing stress We all have it! Let’s manage it so it doesn’t manage us!  SPEAKER BIO: Jesse Ketterman & Maria Pippidis work with farmers in the Maryland and Delaware areas to help them tackle areas including financial, stress, leadership, succession, and other issues.
• Goat Genetics Deep Dive: A Producer Perspective on Creating Quality Cheese-Yield Milk  We’ll get into genetic management methods, international and domestic breeders, and the impact of having a genetics focus can have on your bottom ($) line.  SPEAKER BIO: Stepahanie Rovey is a goat farmer and owner of Grande Ronde Dairy, which supplies cheese-quality milk for Larua Chenel.  Her presentation is packed with information, data, and ideas for any goat farmers thinking of or actively delving into the genetics space.
• Creating Positive Workplace Dynamics: Seeing Beyond the Human Rind This session is about crafting a place folks want to work! We get lots of questions about how to do this – and Ned’s presentation has been used to help folks think about how they navigate this.  SPEAKER BIO: Ned Powell has taught in both academic (at the University of VT) and private industry environments. His work focuses on resilience, emotional intelligence, and crisis management.
• Happy hour virtual tour: Pecora Dairy  We’ll visit this sheep cheesery in Australia, see their land, animals, milking facilities, cheesemaking space – and end with Q/A with the owners/cheesemakers!  SPEAKER BIO: Michael & Cressida Cains are the owners of Pecora Dairy in Robertson, Australia.  This year they are navigating high amounts of rainfall – and we’ll hear about how they are doing that, managing their herd of East Fresian sheep, and see where they make cheese (and learn about that cheese!).

Friday February 17

• Deep Dive: How Animal Feed Qualities Drive Milk and Cheese Qualities  In this session, we’ll discuss recent research on the differences in cheese characteristics and quality, as affected by seasonal and local factors that affect milk.  SPEAKER BIO: Mauro Coppa is an independent researcher who studies factors related to milk production in his work with INRAE and other organizations.
• Bridging the Gap Between Research and Industry  Discussion with researchers about how they work with cheese producers & how cheesemakers can work with them more to get our questions about milk and cheese production answered. SPEAKER BIO: Hannah Davis and Rachel Dutton are both researchers whose work studies information that helps farmers and cheese producers produce great product. They will be talking about how their research is shared with cheesemakers and dairy farmers today, what is working about that/not, and how we might better have more two-way conversations with researchers – so we can get our cheesemaking and milk production questions answered.
• Deep Dive: Identifying and Solving Bacterial Problems in Artisan Cheese Spoilage bacteria can negatively impact the quality of artisan cheese. Given their microscopic size and ability to quickly spread, how can cheesemakers successfully manage these unwanted microbes? This talk will use several case studies to illustrate strategies for identifying and managing the causes of bacterial defects in artisan cheese production. Case studies will focus on the notorious Pseudomonas fluorescens and other bacteria that cause unwanted flavors or pigments. SPEAKER BIO: Ben Wolfe runs The Wolfe Lab at Tufts University. This lab uses fermented foods and other synthetic microbial communities to study the ecology and evolution of microbiomes. The impact of his and The Wolfe Lab’s research spans across multiple industries – including the cheese industry, medicine, and natural studies fields.
• Marketing Skills: The Tool Every Cheesemaker Has and Should Use – The Smartphone!  This instructional session focuses on taking great pictures and telling a great story, to better attract attention to your products (i.e. you can make a great product – and selling it to folks is part of being a great cheese business owner too, and we want to help you do that!)  SPEAKER BIO:  Michele Walfred is a Communications Specialist and has trained farmers on how to use social media (everything from how to take a great photo, to how to take great looking video, to how to tell your story in a compelling and exciting way in words) for years.  She has tons of great content to share!
• Happy Hour: A Feature, Not a Bug—The Importance of Sensory Alignment for Cheese Troubleshooting and Development  Sit back as we wrap things up and learn from Neals Yard Dairy how they support cheesemakers in the UK to assess product and align cheeses with customer wants.  SPEAKER BIO:  Bronwen Percival works with cheesemakers and the Neal’s Yard Dairy’s maturation team to select and optimize the quality of the cheese they sell. More than that, she works to mobilize collaboration between cheesemakers and the scientific community. In 2012, she instigated a biennial conference on the Science of Artisan Cheese. In early 2014, she spent two months in the Dutton Lab at Harvard University studying the role of marine-associated Proteobacteria on cheese rinds. Along with Dr. Benjamin Wolfe, she co-founded the website MicrobialFoods.org, a scientific resource for producers, purveyors, and enthusiasts of artisan microbial foods. She is the co-author, with her husband Francis, of Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes, and the Fight for Real Cheese (Bloomsbury, 2017).

Every single one of our sessions is designed to have learning components – things we hope will provide you with ideas and helpful information!

PRICING & REGISTRATION

2-day Early Bird Attendee Pass – $95. Only available through end of December 2022.

2-day Regular Attendee Pass – $110. Available Jan 1 2022 through event.

1-day Regular Attendee Pass – $65.

Vermont Cheese Council Members Discount 20% off (please reach out for this promo code or look for it in your membership e-news)

Member of Partner Guilds:  If you belong to one of these guilds, please ask your leadership for your discount code to receive 20% off your attendee passes:  Maine, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington.

We are also offering free conference access for anyone who registers for our online course, The Science of Farmstead Cheese (see next section on this page for more info).

*** SPECIAL OFFER WITH THE SCIENCE OF FARMSTEAD CHEESE ONLINE COURSE

For anyone who purchases our Online Course, The Science of Farmstead Cheese, between now and Sunday February 13, we will offer them one complimentary free attendee pass to this conference.  A great discount for those looking for both a fun conference experience and a deeper look at the science of cheesemaking.  (Does not apply with VCC member discount for course)

AN ENORMOUS THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

WHO HELP THIS EVENT BE FINANCIALLY ACCESSIBLE FOR CHEESEMAKERS/KEEP OUR ATTENDEE PRICING DOWN!

VCC’S 2023 PLATINUM SPONSORS

SILVER LEVEL SPONSORS

SUPPORTER LEVEL SPONSORS

New England Dairy  ♦  Gourmet Dash ♦  Cheese Reporter

INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR SPONSORS?

Sponsors play an important role in our event, in that they become part of our team by helping to make the event affordable for all who attend. Many cheesemakers are still facing a mix of challenges related to the impacts of COVID.  Our goal is to continue to offer access to world class knowledge at an affordable price – and every sponsor who supports us can help with that. We hope you will join us in this effort!  We hope you will join us in this effort!

We are offering sponsorship levels for organizations big and small!  If interested in more information, please reach out to chelsea (a) vtcheese.com.

INTERESTED IN OTHER LEARNING RESOURCES TOO?

Visit our learning resources page…