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Canadian artisan cheese7/8/2023 ![]() ![]() a delivery system to the north Okanagan region. “We aren’t up to where we were before COVID, but we do see many opportunities. His focus has been on adapting his business to better serve consumer demands and return it to its pre-pandemic capacity. Wohlgemuth says he has noticed changing customer sentiments as life in a pandemic continues to evolve. Wohlgemuth says after the previous owners ceased sourcing milk from their own cows, they found a farm through the marketing board which aligned with their goals to use unpasteurized, grass-fed milk, and this single farm continues to be the source of milk for their cheeses. Where Back Forty relies on relationships with local farms, Triple Island Farms sources their milk through the BC Milk Marketing Board. “We use a really high-quality milk, and that’s the backbone of our operation,” he notes. ![]() Fenwick also produces fresh mozzarella seasonally, using water buffalo milk sourced from a Quebec farm. To supply their operation, Back Forty Artisan Cheese has formed partnerships with five local farms to source the raw pasture-raised sheep’s milk Fenwick uses as the base in many of his cheeses. We have a few employees, and our focus is on trying to make really good-quality cheese and not only pumping out mass volumes of cheese,” he says. “The big grocery chains we don’t have much of an interest in because becomes more about volume and quantity over quality. I was fortunate to work with the previous owner for a while as well, so we learned some of the foundation from him.”įenwick has built Back Forty’s business model around remaining a niche, small market, independent business. Reflecting upon his start in cheesemaking, Fenwick says, “We spent a lot of time digging into, researching, making large batches and learning as we went along. They have been growing the business ever since. In 2011, Jeff Fenwick and his wife, Jenna, also new to cheesemaking at the time, took ownership of Back Forty Artisan Cheese from its founder and later relocated to their current location on the banks of Canada’s Mississippi River. They purchased the company from its original owners and have since taken over operations to learn the art of cheesemaking. Triple Island Farms changed hands in the spring of 2021 when former beekeeper Rodger Wohlgemuth and his wife moved from Manitoba. Both businesses specialize in raw milk cheeses with an emphasis on sourcing locally produced milk that fulfills the needs of their niche markets. Two cheesemakers who have modified how they operate under ongoing restrictions and changes in consumer behaviour are Cherryville, British Columbia’s Triple Island Farms and Back Forty Artisan Cheese, located in Mississippi Station, Ontario. Do cows adapt quickly to being milked by robots?Ĭanadian artisan cheesemakers have seen their operations shift over the past two years and are ushering in their own changes to tap into new opportunities. ![]()
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