The likelihood of another large commercial cheese manufacturer coming to the north country is dim but artisanal cheese makers are seeing the value of a fresh product for the local market.
A cheese plant once operated on every rural corner when farmers needed to bring their milk to a manufacturing plant that was as close as possible. Over the years, the industry evolved. While some plants got bigger and modernized, most shut down.
Plants that have thrived include Kraft Foods in Lowville, the world’s largest cream cheese plant; Crowley Foods in LaFargeville, a cottage cheese and yogurt maker; McCadam Cheese in Chateaugay, owned by Agri-Mark dairy cooperative, which also makes Cabot cheese; and Great Lakes Cheese in Adams, which doubled its size and capacity with an $86 million expansion completed in 2010.
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