ASHWAUBENON, Wis. — Foreign trade of Wisconsin’s specialty cheeses has been growing in recent years. That includes to countries like Canada, China and Mexico.
John Umhoefer is the executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.
“We like to see free markets because if there’s a retaliatory tariff that may hamper our ability to move product out of the United States,” he said Tuesday. “We had a record year in 2024 as a nation. We exported 1.1 billion pounds of cheese to other countries.”
The U.S. Championship Cheese Contest got underway Tuesday at the Resch Expo in Ashwaubenon — the same day the United States, Canada, China and Mexico launched a series of trade tariffs and retaliatory tariffs.
Umhoefer said he welcomes a quick resolution to the burgeoning trade war.
“We like trade issues to get resolved as fast as possible,” he said. “We like the free and fair trade to flow in both directions.”
According to Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, in 2023 the state exported $1.4 billion of agricultural products to Canada, $454 million to Mexico and $324 million to China. The state is the number one exporter of specialty cheeses, according to the department.
Ryan Heiman of Nasonville Dairy in central Wisconsin sells cheese to places like China, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
Those sales help the businesses and the dairy farmers it works with.
“That helps tremendously as far as additional markets so we can keep growing the business,” he said. “Maybe add another vat or buy some more milk that will help the farmers who want to keep growing in the area to get bigger and bigger to help their family keep growing also.”
Steve Stettler of Decatur Dairy in Broadhead said the impact of tariffs on his business isn’t yet clear.
“You have to sell your whey. That’s an important byproduct of your process. With the tariffs and everything else going on, we don’t know how that will affect that,” he said. “Will it affect sales abroad? A lot of that whey powder and whey protein is exported.”
Umhoefer said the cheese industry is doing well in the state. It’s the number one cheese producer in the nation.
“We’ve had record growth each year. Each year, the industry gets a little larger. Our milk production grows each year,” he said. “Cheese is booming in Wisconsin.”
