In addition to the American Cheese Society conference, there is another national conference held for cheese makers — The Cheese Makers’ Resource Conference put together by Agri-Service and Dairy Heritage. It’s a bit smaller than the ACS conference and does not include a competition, but it’s held on the East Coast in most years — in New Holland, PA this year — it costs only $90 per day to attend (when registering before December 30th) so it’s possible to drive to it, and the lodging expenses can be lower. Still, many of the same speakers are featured such as Peter Dixon, Allen Sayler, and Dave Potter.

This year there are several sessions that deal with the new regulatory world brought in with the implementation of the Food Safety and Modernization Act. One of the sessions — How Do I Write Good GMPs? — is a topic that I hear frequently from other Guild members.