Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events2017-03-01T11:39:24-05:00

13th Annual Cheesemakers Festival Celebrates Local Cheesemakers and Artisan Food Producers

For Immediate Release

Shelburne, VT (May 2025) The Vermont Cheesemakers Festival will celebrate its 13th anniversary in the historic Breeding Barn at Shelburne Farms on August 10, 2025 from 11:30 AM to 4 PM to celebrate the art of cheesemaking in Vermont. Attendees can meet cheesemakers and taste the cheeses of Vermont, enjoy the creations of artisan food producers, savor the local wine and cider production, and experience the skills of craft brewers and master distillers. This year, Platinum Sponsors include Cabot Creamery Cooperative, Shelburne Farms, Vermont Creamery, and Vermont Dairy Farmers. Gold Sponsors include Farm Credit East and Reiser, and Silver Sponsors include Jasper Hill Farm, Maplebrook Farm + Ploughgate Creamery, and Provisions International.

Along with 30+ Vermont cheesemakers, this year’s event will include over 40 food and beverage producers. […]

Vermont Cheesemakers Take Home 28 Awards from U.S. Championships

Vermont Cheese Council Members captured the attention of the nation at the United States Championship Cheese Contest® hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. The competition is the most respected and honored cheese and butter competition in the U.S., and includes technical evaluation quality cheeses, butter, cultured products, and dry dairy ingredients. The 2025 Championships saw more than 2,400 products sampled in more than 110 categories over the course of the 22nd biennial competition.

Cabot Creamery Cooperative/Agri-Mark received seven first place rankings among their 15 total ribbons, leading the way in cheddar, natural slices, and shredded cheese classes, as well as the “Sour Cream” category for their Cabot Creme Fraiche. Agri-Mark (Middlebury, VT) also received two first place finishes in the “Whey” category.

Jasper Hill Farm (Greensboro, VT) and Cabot partnered on a […]

Vermont Cheese Sees Challenges and Opportunities in Shifting Markets

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

4/8/2020

WAITSFIELD, Vermont  –  As the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted consumer behaviors across the U.S., cheesemakers in Vermont have had to juggle to find new ways to connect with their consumers.  As part of the $650 million cheese industry in Vermont, their products are often featured in restaurants in the New York City and Boston areas, retailed in specialty food shops, sold at storefronts on farms, or passed into consumers’ hands at farmers markets.  The shift seen in consumers’ abilities to access these locations has dramatically impacted many cheesemakers’ abilities to sell their products, resulting in 50-70% reductions in sales in most cases.

Lost sales channels are particularly disruptive for cheesemakers.  Even if they stop producing cheese, the milking animals found on dairy farms continue to produce milk.  This means that either cheesemakers continue making cheese, without a sufficient market for their cheeses, or they discard or divert their incoming […]

Announcing the Good Food Finalists for 2018

good food awards logo

Congratulations to the outstanding 279 food & drink crafters from 40 states and Washington, DC

 

San Francisco, CA (November 7, 2017) – The Good Food Foundation is proud to announce the 279 companies in the running for a Good Food Award in 2018. The Finalists represent not just the best of America’s food movement, but the qualities we love most about this country: our rich cultural diversity, vibrant agricultural landscape, and the creativity and integrity of its small business owners.

 

The 15 categories the Good Food Awards celebrate – from spirits to cheese to coffee – comprise over

$200 billion of America’s gross domestic product, a greater portion than the cattle and pork industries combined. The 2018 Finalists represent the vanguard in each of their industries, setting new standards for gastronomic excellence as well as social and environmental practices that have […]

The Fundamentals of Cheesemaking with Ivan Larcher

Course Summary:  Fundamentals of Artisan Cheese is an intensive nine-day program for aspiring and practicing cheesemakers. Offered in partnership with the Cellars at Jasper Hill and led by world-renowned master cheesemaker and educator Ivan Larcher, this course provides students with the practical and scientific knowledge needed to create exquisite small-scale artisan cheese.

The Art of Natural Cheesemaking with David Asher

Course Summary: 
“The Art of Natural Cheesemaking” offers a well-rounded understanding of the opportunities available to safely and deliciously create value-added dairy products ecologically and without reliance on manufactured cultures. We will prepare many styles of cheese and study the stages of their evolution, gaining insight into how an array of cheeses can evolve from the very same milk, with the same culture, and the same rennet.
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