Show Your Counter Culture at the Festival of Cheese & Win a Great Prize! 

ACS Needs You! Volunteer Your Time in Raleigh 

With summer heating up to a fever pitch, ACS staff and volunteers continue to put the finishing touches on what promises to be an outstanding "Cheese Rally in Raleigh." The conference will to bring together our community for learning, celebration, and great cheese.

Cheesemakers, you have outdone yourselves yet again! This year's Judging & Competition is the largest in ACS history, topping out at over 1,700 cheeses, with an extra strong showing by our southern producers. 

Do you want to help display all of those gorgeous cheeses at the Festival of Cheese? Show us your display chops as your team takes on a category of cheese and makes it shine in our first Counter Culture Challenge. Who will reign supreme at this fun test of cheese skills? Don't miss the final results on August 4!  

Despite our conference-centric focus, we have not lost sight of important year-round initiatives. Some great progress has been made in our work to draft a Cheesemaker Best Practices document. The ACS Regulatory & Academic Committee, chaired by Kate Arding, has been forging alliances across the Atlantic with the Specialist Cheesemakers Association in the UK, using their code of best practices as a springboard for a North American version. Committee members came together at the Fancy Food Show in Washington, DC to advance the project. A similar guide for retailer best practices is also in the works. Be sure to look for updates in Raleigh.

If you have not already voted for two nominees to join the ACS Board of Directors, please do so by July 11. Our volunteer board works diligently to advance ACS's mission of supporting and promoting American cheese, and your vote will guide the future direction of this organization.

Thanks for all that you do to advance the cause of great cheese. See you in Raleigh!

Peace, Love & Cheese,

Christine Hyatt 

ACS President

Excitement is building for the ACS Conference & Competition in Raleigh, with a great schedule of educational programs, tours, and events. This year, we'll launch the first ever Counter Culture Challenge. This is a chance for anyone with great cheese preparation and display skills to showcase their talents. Competitors will bring their vision for displaying competition cheeses to life at the Festival of Cheese on Saturday, August 4. Sign up to compete in this fun, lively, and challenging event if you think you've got what it takes to tackle the abundance of cheese that is the Festival of Cheese. You could win a 2013 conference registration or a seat to take the 2013 CCP™ Exam -- and competitors who register for the full 2012 conference will receive a $100 rebate on their conference registration! 

Cheesemakers will also have a special chance to shine at Meet the Cheesemaker in Raleigh. This is a favorite annual event for many conference attendees, as it allows one-to-one personal contact between cheesemakers and buyers. If you haven't done so already, there's still time to sign up to showcase your cheeses in front of a targeted audience of buyers. But, don't delay. The deadline to reserve your table at the lowest rate is Wednesday, June 27. 

We look forward to seeing you in Raleigh!

Nora Weiser

ACS Executive Director  

Market Your Cheese to Leading Buyers at ACS's Annual Meet the Cheesemaker Event  

The deadline to register for ACS's Meet the Cheesemaker event is fast approaching!  

If you have not booked a table to showcase your cheeses to a targeted audience of cheese buyers, distributors, and retailers in Raleigh on August 2, be sure to do so by June 27 for the lowest registration rate of $185. Late registration ($225) will only be available from June 28 through July 6.   

Meet the Cheesemaker is sponsored by the California Milk Advisory Board.

Participants in Meet the Cheesemaker can showcase up to seven different products. ACS provides each cheesemaker with a draped table, napkins, trays, gloves, toothpicks, bread or crackers, a knife, and a cutting board.  

 

To learn more about Meet the Cheesemaker, click here or contact the ACS office at 720-328-2788. Don't miss this unique marketing opportunity for your business! 

An Interview with Temple Grandin (Part 2)

ACS is proud to welcome Dr. Temple Grandin, renowned author and advocate for humane livestock handling, as our 2012 Conference Keynote Speaker. Dr. Grandin will speak to conference attendees on Thursday, August 1 at 8:15 AM, and she will sign copies of her books (available for sale) after her talk. 

In anticipation of this keynote, we asked Dr. Grandin about her work -- particularly as it relates to the dairy industry. We are pleased to share part two of this interview, below. 

Q: You've been described as being able to "think like the animals" and understand how changes in their environment can lead to stress. For animals going to slaughter, this means something different than for animals going to the milking parlor. What similarities and differences do you see?

A: You want animals to go into the milking parlor voluntarily. There should be no handling stress if you are doing things right.

Q: Consumers are more and more concerned about food sources and animal treatment. How do you think such demands from consumers can ultimately make a difference in how farm animals are treated? Is it a matter of reaching the point where the economics start to make sense for producers?

A: The biggest problem in the dairy industry is letting cows get in very bad condition before they are sold. Some excellent dairies do a great job of caring for them, but there are some that just let them age into very bad bodily condition. Part of the problem with certain producers is that they are blind to the fact that they have a problem -- I call it "Bad becoming Normal." You get so used to seeing lame dairy cattle that you don't even notice it. Another thing the dairy industry has a hard time getting through its head is that some of their money comes through meat from bull calves; they are way behind the beef industry in their treatment of meat cattle. Whether they like it or not, they do produce beef. They need to begin getting their head around the fact that they are also meat producers. 

Temple Grandin's keynote speech is sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

Q: Do you have any favorite cheeses? 

A: I love brie and blue cheese. With blue cheese, a little goes a long way for me.

A Record-Breaking Year   

We have come a long way since the first ACS Judging & Competition at the 3rd Annual ACS Conference in 1985. In that year, 30 cheesemakers entered a total of 89 cheeses. This year, all of the entries are in for the 2012 Judging & Competition, and we have seen another record number of entries. Over 1,700 cheeses from more than 250 different companies were entered into this year's competition. We will have 17 judging teams in Raleigh, and each team will judge approximately 100 cheeses! 

Now, the task at hand for the Judging & Competition Committee is to review all of the entries and make sure they are entered into the right categories. This is why we request that information such as milk type and added flavors are included when you submit your online entries; we use these details to review your entries. 

This was the first year for our new online entry system, and the feedback we've received from our members has been positive. If you have any suggestions or ideas for next year, we would love to hear them in order to fine-tune the entry system. Please feel free to contact Michelle Lee at the ACS office with your feedback.  

The 2012 ACS Judging & Competition is sponsored by Atlanta Foods International.

The Judging & Competition Committee would like to thank the cheesemakers who submitted entries into this year's Judging & Competition. Your participation helped break our previous record of 1,676 entries! You demonstrate that creativity and enthusiasm for making great cheese continues to thrive in our industry. 

Raleigh is shaping up to be a wonderful conference. We look forward to seeing and celebrating what you have created for 2012!

Todd Druhot

ACS Judging & Competition Chair

There's Still Time to Show Your Support for Cheese!