Cheesemaker Education Day

What: Cheesemaker Education Day is the west coast’s premier educational conference for the artisan cheese industry.

When: Saturday, January 24, 2026 from 8am to 6pm.

Where: Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331.

Who: Creamery owners, employees, and cheesemakers from Oregon, the NW, California, further afield; people interested in starting a creamery business, others related to the artisan cheese industry, and students. In addition to the seminars, there will be a small trade show for cheese industry vendors.

Tickets: $40 for cheesemakers and owners/employees of cheesemaking businesses; $20 for students; $95 all others. Ticket includes all seminars, light breakfast, lunch, and cheese reception.

Affinage Workshop: Friday, January 23, Affinage with Eric Meredith of Fromaginary. Tickets are $50 and include lunch.

Hotel: Hotel info TBD. 

Some of the Sessions You’ll See at Cheesemaker Education Day 2026: 

Here’s what you’ll see there:

• The Physics of Affinage with Eric Meredith of Fromaginary: covering how to use physics to understand your aging space and common air conditioning processes,  the R&D process for creating a new item, and the most common affinage related defects with their root causes along with the importance of a specification to the quality control process.
• Who You Gonna Call? An overview of (mostly free) organizational resources for small food businesses, from the Pacific Coast Coalition to your Department of Agriculture to Oregon State University and their Food Innovation Center to the SBA!
• Prepare for the Worst (and Hope for the Best): From the expert attorneys at Davis Wright Tremaine, how to set yourself up for an effective response in the event of a recall.
• Market Trends in Dairy: What’s hot at the cheese counter, what’s not, and a local wish list from Steve Jones at ChefsWarehouse, Debbie Harris at New Seasons, and other distributor and retail partners.
• OSU Pilot Plant Update and Introduction
• OSU Grad Student Research Quick Fire
• And more!

Contact Katie Bray at katiembray(at)gmail(dot)com for more information on Cheesemaker Education Day.