Nestled in Plymouth, Wis., (population 8,652) — the “Cheese Capital of the World” — Sartori Cheese sits at the crossroads of America’s heartland where grass-fed dairy cows are pivotal to processing, packaging and selling 25% of the country’s cheese. In 2021, there were 6,932 herds milking on dairy farms throughout Wisconsin, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Statistics Service. As the top cheese-producing state, Wisconsin churns out more than two-and-a-half billion pounds of cheese annually followed by California at No. 2.
Since fresh milk is pivotal to fresh cheese, and it takes 10 pounds of milk to produce one pound of cheese, it’s not surprising that Wisconsin’s 1,290 licensed cheesemakers use about 90% of Wisconsin's milk supply, the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin states. Additionally, 47% of all specialty cheese made in the United States originates from Wisconsin.