Dairy Foods has a long tradition of devoting part of the August issue to our “Plant of the Year” winner. Previously, we’d nominate only the dairy plants we’d profiled in the past 18 months, and allowed readers to choose the winning facility. But this year we decided to do things a little differently: We opened up nominations to any exceptional U.S. dairy plant.

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.

After nearly 4,000 votes were cast for the 2020 Dairy Foods plant of the year, Baker Cheese Inc. came out on top.

Dairy Foods nominated 12 dairy processing plants that manufacture fluid milk, cheese, ice cream or cultured dairy products. All of the plants were featured in Dairy Foods magazine and on dairyfoods.com between January 2019 and May 2020.

The company’s plant will be honored in the August issue of Dairy Foods.

Which plant will be Dairy Foods' 2019 Dairy Plant of the Year? Will it be a large cheesemaking operation headquartered in Iowa or a family-run ice cream plant based in Ohio? Those are just two of the 13 dairy plants that are in the running for Dairy Foods' 2019 Dairy Plant of the Year.

The team of 180 employees at Lake Country Dairy is very honored and humbled to receive the 2018 Dairy Foods" Plant of the Year award. Receiving this award means we are doing things right, and we have a solid foundation in our Core Purpose and Core Values that our employees uphold every day.

The maker of Italian-style and alpine cheeses was one of 13 plants nominated for the honor.