The happy cows of California may be a little sadder this summer, it looks like Wisconsin will remain number 1 in cheese production for quite some time. This according to Dick Groves, longtime owner of the Madison, Wis. based trade publication, Cheese Reporter.
Groves helped spark the friendly competition between the states 10 years ago with an editorial predicting California would overtake Wisconsin in cheese production by 2005. He later amended it to 2010 and then, last month, to “not anytime soon.” New numbers showing a growing gap between Wisconsin and California prompted Groves to abandon his earlier prediction.
Wisconsin’s lead in annual production shrank to about 164 million pounds in 2007, according to National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Last July, California came within less than 6 million pounds of Wisconsin in monthly production. But then the gap started growing again, reaching 30 million pounds in March.
The quick shift is partly due to two plants closing in California in 2007, while two opened in Wisconsin this year, Groves said.
Dairy Farmers of America closed an American cheese plant in Corona, Calif., saying it wasn’t profitable, and Lactalis USA Inc. closed a specialty cheese plant in Turlock, Calif. Lactalis officials declined through a spokeswoman to discuss that plant closing.
Meanwhile, Foremost Farms USA idled a plant in Waumandee in western Wisconsin in January 2007, retooled it to make a premium type of cheddar and reopened it in March. The temporary shutdown was “not insignificant” in terms of the state’s cheese production, Foremost Farms spokeswoman Joan Behr said. Also in March, BelGioioso Cheese Inc. opened its fifth plant in Wisconsin.
California now has 61 cheese plants compared to Wisconsin’s 124. The Golden State’s plants are larger, but they’re pretty much operating at full capacity while Wisconsin’s could probably make a bit more, federal and state agricultural officials said.