For consumers, cheese is a tasty, culinary delight! For dairy farmers and cheese producers, it’s a way to immortalize milk, creating value-added dairy products that can provide higher income for dairy farmers than milk sales alone. Historically, cheese has been a way for a milk producer to “store” milk that can’t be sold in its fluid form – shelving it for sales at another time. This creates a crucial food production pathway for these farmers and a nutritionally rich food source for consumers. Cheese production eliminates milk waste if it can’t be consumed fast enough, adds revenue for cheesemakers and dairy farmers both, and is just plain delicious to enjoy. And when you invest into helping cheese businesses succeed, you become part of the team that helps our cheese producers and their dairy farmers succeed!
Our vision is big. We want to help Vermont cheese maintain its leadership position in the artisan cheese industry, support dairy farming and agricultural sustainability, help researchers learn how to help the dairy industry make both sustainable and delicious choices together, and sustain those who are providing food for our community so they keep doing this crucial work. We are aiming to do this by providing industry-leading education programs, delivering high-quality business support resources and services, promoting the $650 million Vermont Cheese Brand both locally and across the country, assisting new and retiring cheesemakers to navigate those transitional periods, and helping cheesemaking business owners/staff with coaching and support. We are looking for partners who want to invest alongside us into the future of food – specifically the cheese industry and the dairy farmers behind it!
If you’re interested in becoming an underwriting sponsor, education underwriting sponsor, or sponsoring one of our world-class events like the Artisan Cheesemakers Winter Conference, The Hunt, the Business Miniversity, the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival, or the Vermont Cheese Summit, please contact Development Coordinator, Chelsea Johnson, at chelsea@vtcheese.com.
THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS, PROGRAM FUNDERS, & PARTNERS
Our program/event teams, sponsors and funders are all partners in the work we do! Here are some of our partners, sponsors, and funders:
Cabot Creamery Cooperative • Jasper Hill Farm • Vermont Creamery • Vermont Dairy Promotion Council • Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing • Northeastern Dairy Business Innovation Center • Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets • Working Lands Enterprise Initiative • Grafton Village Cheese Co. • Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company • Dairy Connection • American Cheese Education Foundation • Accutech • Blueberry Hill Inn • Brass Lantern Inn • Brattleboro Food Co-op • Casella • Cheese and Wine Traders • Cheese Reporter • City Market • Co-op Food Store – White River Junction • Community National Bank • Culture Magazine • Dairy Connection • Dedalus • Eden Ciders • Edible Vermont • Edson Hill • Essex Resort • Farm Credit East • Food Connects • Four Chimneys Inn • Good Food Foundation • Gourmet Dash • Grafton Inn • Green Mountain Inn • Highland Center for the Arts • JK Adams • King Arthur Flour • Lake Champlain Chocolates • Mach’s Market • Mad River Taste Place • Moose River Campground • National Life Group • New England Dairy • Norwich Inn • Organic Valley • Ovtene • Passumpsic Bank • Plainfield Co-op • Provisions Intl. • Shelburne Farms • Spring Brook Farm • Stone Hill Inn • Strong House Inn • The Inn at Burklyn • The Inn at Water’s Edge • West Mountain Inn • Woodstock Farmers Market • Yankee Magazine • California Cheese Guild • Maine Cheese Guild • Minnesota Cheese Guild • Ohio Cheese Guild • Oregon Cheese Guild • Pennsylvania Cheese Guild • Washington Cheese Guild