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Greene: Small Cheese

According to the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, or VSJF - small food producers are the fastest growing manufacturing sector in Vermont. Go to any farmers’ market and this is deliciously borne out. What’s more, our local cheeses compete - and even win - at international competitions.

Representative Carolyn Partridge, Chair of the House Agriculture and Forestry Committee, announced recently that more than 4000 food related jobs were created between 2009 and 2013. Not only were 665 new farms and food businesses launched during that time, but more than 60,000 Vermonters are employed as farmers, waiters, cheese makers, brewers, bakers, butchers, and grocers.

Joe Green is a cheese monger – or vendor - at Grafton Village Cheese Company in Brattleboro, where he considers himself a conduit from farm to table, educating and helping people choose the right cheese. Many customers ask why Vermont is a cheese state. One part of the answer is our pastureland, perfect for milk-producing ruminants.

And Vermont produces cheeses to fill every niche – not just cheddar anymore. Vermont produces alpines, goudas, bloomy rinds like bries and washed orange rinds, which originated in monasteries, and of course, our prize winning blues. In fact, Green says any cheese you’d sample in Europe is being produced and enjoyed right here.

Because Vermont has such deep roots in the dairy industry, smaller producers have ready made outlets. Larger, older companies, like Grafton, Cabot and Crowley consistently buy milk from small family farms.

And the state is becoming a magnet for aspiring cheese makers. Big Picture Farm in Townshend and Jacksonville’s Spoonwood Cabins were both launched by people who came here to learn the cheese business.

Start-ups can count on finding mentors, too. Jasper Hill Farm runs an incubator for small cheese makers, and there are other mentors working to bring new talent along.
as well. Grafton gives whey to farmers to spread on fields, recycles whey as animal feed and supplies it to biodigesters, which produce energy from the gas. Jasper Hill even bought hogs to eat the whey leftover from cheese production.

This leads Green to speculate on the next new thing: charcuterie - high end cured meat products. Indeed, both the New England Culinary Institute and Vermont Technical College are offering courses in charcuterie. That’s more good news for consumers and producers alike.

It’s especially thrilling for those of us not inclined to travel - the great food is coming to us.

Stephanie Greene is a free-lance writer now living with her husband and sons on the family farm in Windham County.
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