Wisconsin Dominates World Championship Cheese Contest

Mar 06, 2020

The Dairy State was well represented during this year's World Champion Cheese Contest in Madison, as Wisconsin cheese companies took Gold Ratings in 45 different classes. The contest, which wrapped up on Thursday at the Monona Terrace Convention Center, featured over 3,600 entries from 26 countries--an all time high for the competition.

Cheesemaker Michael Spycher from Switzerland took top honors during the contest. Out of a possible 100 points, he scored 98.81 in the final round of judging with his Gourmino Le Gruyère AOP, a cow's milk cheese that has been produced in the region for the past 900 years.

The first runner-up in the contest, with a score of 98.70, is Gallus Grand CRU. That is a hard cow's milk product made by Hardegger Käse AG of Switzerland. Lutjewiinkel Noord Hollandse Gouda PDO, a mature gouda aged four to ten months, made by Royal FrieslandCampina-Export, earned the second runner-up position with a score of 98.66.

"For generations, cheesemakers have honed their craft with a commitment to excellence, and that shows in the work of World Championship Cheese Contest winners," said John Umhoefer, director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, which hosts the biennial competition.

Overall, U.S. cheesemakers dominated the competition, earning gold medals in 90 of the 132 contest classes. The Netherlands came in second among the countries with ten golds, followed by Switzerland with seven.

Besides Wisconsin, organizers say the most winningest U.S. competitors came from Vermont with nine golds, followed by California and New York, which both garnered five.

The World Championship Cheese Contest the largest international competition in the world.

Source : USAgNet

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.