Gov. Walker, state leaders, celebrate cheese across Wisconsin

Walker declared Monday “Wisconsin Cheese Day” earlier this month.

State leaders traveled to several communities on Monday to praise cheeses made in Wisconsin.

June is diary month in Wisconsin. Gov. Scott Walker’s administration, which signed a bill in early June declaring Monday, “Wisconsin Cheese Day,” helped celebrate the contributions of the industry Monday by shining a spotlight on six growing cheese companies in the state. 

Two of those companies – the Great Lakes Cheese factory in La Crosse and the Westby Creamery – were visited by Wisconsin agriculture secretary Ben Brancel. Walker visited the Klondike Cheese Co. in Monroe, Wis.

According to Walker, the the dairy industry contributed $43 billion to Wisconsin’s economy – more than Idaho earns from potatoes or California gets from citrus fruit – and 26.2 percent of the nation’s cheese comes from Wisconsin.

Brancel was joined at Great Lakes by other representatives of government and farm support groups, such as the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research.