Wisconsin Cheese Maker Association's Annual Meeting Will Be Held Virtually for Second Consecutive Year Due to COVID-19
Thursday, October 29th, 2020 -- 9:02 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -It appears that the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association's annual meeting will be the among the first agricultural events to be held virtually for a second consecutive year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.Coordinators say the 2021 forum will now be called CheeseExpo Global Online, which will offer industry innovations, world-class technical and marketing seminars, and supplier connections. The new event will take place April 6-8, 2021 and will be co-hosted by the WCMA and Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In April of this year, the group canceled its 2021 International Cheese Technology Exposition for health safety reasons after coronavirus began to spread throughout the U.S. "If there's a silver lining in these unusual times, it's the opportunity for an online event to bring ideas, new technology and networking to every PC, and every conference room and training room in the dairy industry," said CDR Director John Lucey.
WCMA Director John Umhoefer says the decision was made after speaking to processors and exhibitors. He feels CheeseExpo will put people first, so they can still celebrate industry honorees by spotlighting cheesemakers and award-winning products. Meanwhile, the decision also affects the World Championship Cheese Contest, which had been slated for February 2021. That competition will now be postponed until March 2022. CheeseExpo will return to an in-person schedule April 12-14, 2022 at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee.
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