Marshfield’s Foremost Farms Cheese Plant One of 33 Operations that Have Closed this Year

Thursday, September 17th, 2026 -- 11:01 AM

(Avery Martinez, Wisconsin Public Radio) Over 140 people are losing their jobs in central Wisconsin, after two separate manufacturing plants announced they will shut down their operations in Tomahawk and Marshfield. 

According to Avery Martinez with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the closures will remove 68 positions in a Marshfield plant making cheese, and  76 positions from a Tomahawk plant manufacturing specialized metal tanks.

“We’re hoping we could keep everybody in Tomahawk, because we don’t want to lose any families in our community,” said Tomahawk Mayor Michael Habeck. The shut-downs of the Samuel Pressure Vessel facility in Tomahawk and the Foremost Farms USA’s cheese plant in Marshfield are only two of the 33 operations that have closed sites across Wisconsin so far this year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

Out of the required closure notices logged so far this year with the DWD, a number of operations are closing across Wisconsin, many in smaller communities. Manufacturing plants are closing their doors in Manitowoc, Shullsburg, Mosinee and Blair.

Some of those plant closures will eliminate over 100 jobs, according to the data. In a statement to WPR, the Wisconsin DWD said not every business closure or layoff is required to be reported to the department.

The unemployment rate is low in both Lincoln and Wood counties, 3.8 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, as of July. But the closure of a plant employing dozens of people can have a serious impact on small communities, according to researchers, economists and politicians.

USDA researchers say rural communities are feeling the impact of international economies, infrastructure challenges and aging facilities. In a recent report, they found the manufacturing industry is still “central to employment” in smaller areas, despite a national lack of employment growth.

Wisconsin has been a heavy manufacturing state throughout the years, said Steven Deller, a retired professor of the UW Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. He spent much of his career looking at small communities and how they’re affected by the economy.

“But nationally, manufacturing has not been a growth industry, particularly when you’re looking at growth in terms of jobs,” Deller said. The number of manufacturing jobs has consistently declined over the past 40 years, and researchers found traditional rural industries such as mining, agriculture and manufacturing continue to trend down. “Even with the decrease, manufacturing had the second-largest share of total nonmetro area employment in 2024,” the USDA report states.

In Marshfield, 68 people will be impacted by the closure of Foremost Farms USA’s cheese plant, which has been operating since the 1950s. In a statement, Foremost Farms said the manufacturing facility will close in December, and they will stop producing 40-pound blocks of cheese.

The decision came after a review of changing dairy market dynamics, including increased U.S. cheese production capacity and shifting consumer demand, according to the co-op.

Deller said there are a number of factors that affect the decisions of companies to operate manufacturing in rural areas including the age of the machinery, the tech in the facility, operational goals and economic uncertainty.

The age of a facility can be a big factor, according to Deller. “The facilities were getting so old that the decision was: Do we make multi-million-dollar investments in these old facilities,” Deller said, “or do we just start new?”

Brenda Dehart, CEO of Foremost Farms, said in a statement this decision wasn’t a reflection of the workers in Marshfield. “This decision was incredibly difficult and is based solely on changing market conditions and long-term needs of our cooperative,” she said.

The affected Marshfield employees will be getting support from their former employers, according to Foremost Farms. Workers will be offered HR support and opportunities to apply at other Foremost Farms facilities.

The company’s website lists other operations in Wisconsin, the closest to Marshfield being in Clayton or Appleton. Both operations are over 100 miles from Marshfield. “Foremost Farms remains committed to serving its customers and maximizing value for its dairy farmer members while adapting to changes across the dairy industry,” the company said in a statement.

Earlier this summer, two other diary operations closed down in southern Wisconsin, both owned by Prairie Farms Dairy, laying off nearly 100 workers. In a statement, Prairie Farms said the decision to close the plants was part of an evaluation of the manufacturing network.

The most recent unemployment figures from July showed Wisconsin had a steady rate of 3.3 percent, below the national average of 4.1 percent.

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