Cheesemakers and their suppliers will be bidding on award-winning cheeses April 23 in Milwaukee. The World Championship Cheese Auction, the key fundraising event of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, will be held during the International Cheese Technology Expo in Milwaukee.

The auction begins at 6 p.m. on April 23 at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee. See the official Auction Bid Sheet here.

In the past decade, WCMA has targeted more than $1 million in auction bids and Expo proceeds to dairy industry education programs, student scholarships, dairy farmer organizations and improvements in the Championship Cheese Contests, according to John Umhoefer, WCMA executive director.

The largest donation, WCMA’s gift of $500,000 to the construction of a new Dairy Plant and Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin’s Babcock Hall, was possible because of successful Auctions in recent years, according to Umhoefer.

“The WCMA Board has strategically invested these proceeds to give back to the dairy industry,” Umhoefer said. “The goal is to build new leaders, to support the modernization of dairy farms, to create graduates with food and dairy degrees, and to build the dairy research facilities that will carry our industry forward.”