Cheese Business News (CBN) is being launched today by Invest In Cheese, the economic development initiative of four counties in Eastern Ontario.
InvestInCheese.ca aims to become a clearing house for cheese news and the one-stop authority for start-ups in cheesemaking and other aspects of the cheese business. The long-term goal is to foster growth of the cheese industry in Frontenac, Hastings, Lennox and Addington, and Prince Edward counties which have united under the banner of Ontario's Artisan Cheese Region.
Spearheaded by Dan Taylor, Prince Edward's economic development officer, Invest In Cheese hopes to return Eastern and Central Ontario to its heyday as the chief cheese producing region in Canada. In the 1920s, there were more than 270 cheesemakers operating from Peterborough eastward in Ontario, producing a gazillion pounds of cheese, mainly cheddar, much of it for export to the United Kingdom.
Today, there are only 17 cheesemakers in the region—many of them, however, producing exceptional artisan cheese.
CheeseLover.ca was recently invited to a brainstormer hosted by Dan where the idea for CBN was hatched. Also participating was Gurth Pretty of Cheese of Canada, Andy Shay of Provincial Fine Foods, Malcolm Jolley of Good Food Revolution, and two associates of Dan's in Prince Edward's economic development, Karin Desveaux-Potters and Caitlin den Boer.
If you're into cheese, these are heady times. All sorts of interesting projects are coagulating in many corners of Ontario. One way to stay current is to bookmark InvestInCheese.ca and check it regularly. Another way is to enter your email address in the upper right of this blog to subscribe to posts here. Your address will not be sold, traded or given away.
Well done! Very exciting initiative!