VERMONT
FARMSTEAD
CHEESE COMPANY
Educating and assisting
family dairy farms
In 1945, Vermont had 14,000
dairy farms; today there are fewer
than 1,000. Vermont Farmstead
Cheese Company is working to
reverse the decline.
PHOTO: VERMONT FARMSTEAD CHEESE COMPANY
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Plymouth, MN 55447-4446 USA
800-797-2772 (U.S.A and Canada only)
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❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE
specialtyfood.com
Saving a local farm… The Vermont
Farmstead Cheese Company began in
South Woodstock in the fall of 2010 as a
community effort to prevent a local dairy
farm from becoming a slaughterhouse.
Initial funding costs were more than half a
million dollars.
When the current owners successfully took over the farm, the next question
was: "What are we going to do with it?"
says Kyle Thygesen, Vermont Farmstead's
CFO, who has a background in finance
and organic dairy farming. The group
purchased a multi-breed herd of cows—
Ayshires, Brown Swiss, Holsteins, Jerseys,
Milking Shorthorns—with the intention
of converting 100 percent of the milk into
artisanal cheese. They hired an experienced cheesemaker, Rick Woods, formerly
of Grafton Village Cheese Company, and
Kent Underwood, a fifth-generation dairy
farmer, to run the herd. Within a short
time, the business was up and running
and winning cheese awards for BrickHaus
Tilsit, AleHouse Cheddar and Lillé, a
sumptuous, creamy cousin to brie.
Supporting the dairy farmer… In
2010, the same year Vermont Farmstead
was born, the company established the
Vermont Dairy Foundation, whose mission
is to provide education and assistance to
family-based dairy farms of small-to-medium size. The goal aims to reverse an alarming trend: Vermont's dairy farm numbers
are dropping fast, with a 93 percent decline
since 1945.
