Cheese: Dairy's rising star

By John Umhoefer, executive director for Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association

These are challenging times for dairy farmers and cheese manufacturers, but make no mistake, Wisconsin’s leadership and expertise in cheese make this the right place to be — and the right place to invest — in the dairy industry.

Fluid milk sales are in an eight-year slide — consumers nationwide drink 2.3 million fewer gallons of milk each day than in 2009. But cheese growth has outpaced these losses — cheese manufacturers use 8.1 million more gallons of milk each day than in 2009.

The leader in cheese
Here’s the big picture on Wisconsin cheesemaking:

• Wisconsin crafted more than 3 billion pounds of cheese in 2017, nearly 27 percent of U.S. production.
• Wisconsin is the only state with trained and licensed cheesemakers; 1,200 today.
• Wisconsin makes 45 percent — nearly half — of all U.S. specialty cheeses.
• Cheese diversity is a strength: Wisconsin makes more than 600 cheese varieties and types.
• Manufacturing is diverse: 144 cheese plants large and small produce cheese in Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin, about 90 percent of all fresh farm milk is used to produce cheese. Cheese is dairy’s rising star, and Wisconsin produces more cheese than any other state.

Rising milk volumes nationwide, and particularly in the Upper Midwest, have challenged production capacity and lowered milk and cheese prices. The value of whey has also flattened, and lactose from whey has essentially no value in the marketplace at this time.

Production capacity growth
Wisconsin cheese manufacturers aren’t standing still. In a 2017 survey of members, Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association learned that members were adding cheese plant capacity to accept 2.4 billion more pounds of milk, and another 1 billion pounds of capacity would come on line in 2018.

Since 2016, Wisconsin has added five major new cheesemaking facilities (BelGioioso Cheese, Klondike Cheese, Mound View Cheese, Mullins Cheese and Wisconsin Whey Protein) and at least six major plant additions (Agropur, BelGioioso Cheese, Grande Cheese, Land O’ Lakes, Meister Cheese and Saputo Cheese).

More than that, manufacturers across the state have upgraded processes, added shifts, infused automation and optimized production schedules to make more cheese in existing facilities.

The importance of new markets
The growth of dairy exports from Wisconsin, and around the nation, is one of dairy’s highlights in the 21st century. Today, new tariff barriers arising from trade disputes with our NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico, as well as China and the European Union, threaten overseas sales gains in a year that has seen record exports from the U.S.

For Wisconsin dairy manufacturers:

• Mexico is the No. 1 international market for Wisconsin cheese.
• $133 million worth of cheese and $137 million in whey sales moved to Mexico last year.
• China purchased $50 million worth of Wisconsin dairy products in 2017; up 73 percent.
• Wisconsin cheese sales to Canada topped $26 million in 2017.
  Overall, Wisconsin dairy exports rose 20 percent in 2017.

New markets and new buyers around the globe are an essential part of Wisconsin — and national — dairy industry growth. The U.S. dairy industry, led by the most efficient dairy farms in the world, benefits when tariff barriers are eliminated and our award-winning dairy products are offered for purchase on a level playing field with global competitors.

The European Union has reacted to U.S. excellence in cheesemaking with cheese-name barriers as it signs trade agreements with key dairy-consuming nations such as Mexico, South Korea and Canada. The EU’s Geographic Indicators force nations to accept in trade only feta made in Greece, parmesan and asiago from Italy and other styles. The EU’s hoarding of cheese names is a barrier to U.S. growth around the globe — and a sure sign the quality of our cheese is world class.