Events & Education
Upcoming Events, Courses and Workshops:
CONNECT U by Dairy Connection | Online Courses: Ongoing
Created, produced, and hosted by Dairy Connection, CONNECT U is an online educational resource featuring presentations on a variety of dairy science topics. This easily-accessible, low-cost (often free) education and technical information platform is geared to assist cheesemakers, cheese retailers, and anyone interested in diving into the science of making cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products. All presentations are available a la carte, and new content and topics are added regularly. Learn more and enroll here: https://connectu.dairyconnection.com
Dairy Plant Food Safety Workshop | Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy | Cashton, WI: Nov. 11-12, 2025
The Dairy Plant Food Safety Workshop if designed to help dairy processing facilities improve pathogen control practices including PEM, sanitation, and sanitary design. The workshop is applicable for both wet and dry sanitation facilities and was designed by dairy industry profssionals for the benefit of the industry through the non-profit Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. The instructors are food safety leaders from companies across the dairy industry who share their knowledge and experiences to advance food safety across the industry. The training includes lectures, Q&A sessions, and hands-on exercises. Learn more here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dairy-plant-food-safety-workshop-november-11-12-tickets-1263007983879?aff=oddtdtcreator
DSANA Annual Symposium | Dairy Sheep Association of North America | Online: Nov. 12-13, 2025
The DSANA Symposium is the major annual event of the dairy sheep industry in North America, providing education and connection. The event is tailored for established sheep dairies, those considering sheep dairying, those who milk sheep on homesteads, cheesemakers who work with sheep milk, veterinarians interested in small ruminant dairy animals, small ruminant nutritionists, and businesses that serve the sheep dairy industry. Symposium is free for DSANA members, $75 for non-members. Learn more here: https://www.dsana.org/2025-symposium#!event-register/2025/11/12/2025-dsana-virtual-dairy-sheep-symposium
Cheesemaker Education Day | Oregon Cheese Guild | Corvallis, OR: Jan. 23-24, 2026
Oregon Cheese Guild's annual Cheesemaker Education Day is a two-day event for the artisan cheese industry (Day 1 is a hands-on workshop and is ticketed separately). Recommended for creamery owners, employees, and cheesemakers; people interested in starting a creamery business; others involved in the artisan cheese industry, and students. Learn more here: https://oregoncheeseguild.org/cheesemaker-education-day/
Agritourism - Bringing Consumers to your Creamery & Dairy to Increase Sales | American Cheese Society | Online: Jan. 29, 2026 -- 4:00pm ET/3:00pm CT/2:00pm MT/1:00pm PT
Join Vivien Straus, founder of the California Cheese Trail, as she moderates a dynamic panel discussion on how to engage the public and boost cheese sales through on-farm and creamery tours, tastings, cheesemaking classes, and other innovative approaches. Featuring three farmstead cheesemaker panelists, this session will explore the challenges and opportunities in connecting consumers directly to the source of their cheese. Attendees will gain practical insights into creating memorable experiences that drive customer engagement and loyalty. Q&A will be included. Learn more here: https://cheesesociety.org/resources/industry-calendar/acs-webinar-agritourism-bringing-consumers-to-your-creamery-and-dairy-to-increase-sales?date=2026-01-29
World Championship Cheese Contest 2026 | Madison, WI: March 3-5, 2026
Hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, this biennial competition held in Madison, Wisconsin is the largest technical dairy products evaluation in the world, featuring 150 classes of cheese, butter, cultured dairy products, and dry dairy ingredients judged by an elite team of 50 international judges. Enter now to secure valuable technical feedback and compete for the prestigious title of World Champion Cheese. To take advantage of early-bird rates, submit your entry by December 12, 2025.
The Science of Yogurt and Cultured Dairy Products: Basic Level | Cornell University | Ithaca, NY: April 28, 2026
A hybrid event with both online and in-person components, this basic workshop will enhance your expertise in yogurt production and cultured dairy products. This course is designed for industry professionals seeking to deepen their understanding of yougrt attributes, culture microbiology, milk quality, and the intricacies of product evaluation and formulation. Learn more here: https://cals.cornell.edu/education/degrees-programs/science-yogurt-and-cultured-dairy-products-basic-level
Artisan Food Safety Resource Hub | Online
Dairy products produced on farm, by artisans, and by small companies continue to drive rapid growth with unique cheese, yogurt and ice cream products sold at retail, restaurants or farmers markets around the country. To help these processors and assure the dairy industry continues to provide safe and nutritional products, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy has developed resources for artisan and farmstead producers to make important food safety information more accessible. Find numerous resources, including several in Spanish, here: https://www.usdairy.com/about-us/innovation-center/food-safety/artisan-and-farmstead-dairy
Science of Farmstead Cheese | Online Course: Ongoing
Understand the fundamentals of cheese and milk chemistry with this self-paced online course. Modules include: Cheese, Culture and the Cheesemaker; Milk Chemistry; 10 Steps of Cheesemaking; Starter Culture Technology; Rennet and Coagulation; Salting and Molding; Cheese Aging Chemistry; Cheese Analysis and Evaluation; Course Summary and Next Steps. Cost of this course is $699 (discount available to Vermont Cheese Council members -- contact VCC for the discount code). Cost ranges from $20 to $135. To learn more about this course, visit: https://vermontcheese.thinkific.com/courses/science-of-farmstead-cheese
UW Center for Dairy Research Shortcourses | Madison, WI: Ongoing
The University of Wisconsin CDR offers a variety of shortcourses throughout the year (often including courses in Spanish). To learn more and view the current schedule, visit: https://www.cdr.wisc.edu/education
Food Safety Basics for Artisan Cheesemakers | Online Course: Ongoing
This online course is intended to equip artisan and farmstead cheesemakers with basic knowledge about food safety concepts and serve as a primer for further training programs, such as how to develop and implement a preventative controls food safety management plan. For a limited time, this $175 course is available at no cost when you use discount code DC-FREE at registration. To learn more, visit: https://units.cals.ncsu.edu/foodsafety/food-safety-basics-for-artisan-cheesemakers/
Environmental Monitoring in the Dairy Industry | Online Course: Ongoing
This online course, developed by North Carolina State University, is intended to provide users with the knowledge and skills required to develop and implement an Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) in the food industry. In this course, users will learn alongside virtual dairy processors in a virtual dairy processing facility to simulate on-the-job training. Fee for this on-demand course is $350. To learn more, visit: https://units.cals.ncsu.edu/foodsafety/environmental-monitoring-in-the-dairy-industry/
Artisan Dairy Food Safety Plan Coaching | Online: Ongoing
PLEASE NOTE: This program is on hiatus for 2025 Do you have questions about your food safety plan? Are you a new or expanding artisan dairy producer? Are you curious about what steps you need to take to be FSMA compliant? Cornell University experts are here to help via regular "office hours" Q&A sessions. These FREE sessions take place twice per month, every month on Zoom. Each session will focus on a different food safety topic, but there will also be time for questions about any specific food safety plan. There is NO COST to attend the Online Dairy Food Safety Chat sessions. Bring your food safety plan and your questions! Learn more here: https://cals.cornell.edu/northeast-dairy-foods-research-center/artisan-support
Dairy Science and Sanitation | Online Course: Ongoing
Available from Cornell University in either Spanish or English, this online self-paced Dairy Science and Sanitation workshop is tailored to dairy processing personnel and is designed to help participants understand the basic principles of dairy science and safety, as well as emphasize dairy processing establishment needs related to dairy sanitation to ensure that proper programs are conducted in their establishments. To learn more, visit: https://dairyextension.foodscience.cornell.edu/programs/certificate-program/basic-dairy-science-and-sanitation/