On behalf of the entire Baker Cheese team, we are honored to be voted the Dairy Foods 2020 "Plant of the Year." Our plant’s success is directly impacted by the incredible dedication and talents of our 250-plus employees and the quality of milk we receive from our local farms. These two critical components allow us to partner with an amazing list of customers that value our award-winning and world-class string cheese.

Some people, including, most famously, Steve Jobs, say that it is better to focus on one thing and do it well. Off a nondescript state highway in east-central Wisconsin, Baker Cheese Inc. is proving the adage to be true.

Saputo Inc. is to be admired for its impressive growth via acquisitions, investments in assets and innovation, and commitment to supporting the communities in which it operates.

In a board meeting room dominated by a framed oil painting of his great grandfather, Errico Auricchio tells the story about his audacious entrepreneurial dream. In 1979, he left Italy with his wife and young children to craft specialty cheeses with the same artisan methods his family had used for 100 years.

Idyllic Crescent City, Calif., is known for being the gateway to Redwood National and State Parks, where some of the oldest trees in the United States live. But the small town, which hugs the Pacific Ocean right by the Oregon border, has another claim to fame.

In certain ways, the story of Rumiano Cheese Co. sounds a lot like the American dream. It all began when the Rumianos emigrated from Northern Italy to the San Francisco area during World War I to work first in the mines, and then in the shipyards. A century later, their flourishing cheese company is still in the family.

The second-annual Cheesefest event raised money for the Montclair History Center.

Schreiber Foods (Schreiber) is among the largest privately held companies in the United States. The dairy processor ranked No. 74 on Forbes' 2018 "Americas' Largest Private Companies" list and posted $5.2 billion in revenues in 2018.

Visitors to Schreiber Foods' Fairview cheese converting plant in Carthage, Mo., can't help but be a bit awestruck. The sheer size of the facility, 330,000 square feet largely dedicated to converting operations and another 140,000 housing a distribution center, is certainly impressive. But the high level of automation found within the various departments is perhaps even more remarkable.