![\"Bob](\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/niceman_img1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI never really liked the academic world. I always had a sense of wanting to own my business, although why, I don\u2019t know\u2014it\u2019s a crazy and stressful thing to do,\u201d he says laughing. \u201cBut the truth is, I can\u2019t imagine doing anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Wisconsin, home to more than 1,200 licensed cheesemakers and 124 cheese plants, making cheese is usually a family profession. Many hail from second-, third-, and even fourth-generation cheesemaking families. Here in America\u2019s Dairyland, working as a cheesemaker is not seen as merely a job, it\u2019s a way of life\u2014and often a tough one, full of long, weird hours. Most cheesemakers leave for work while their neighbors are still sleeping and return home twelve or fourteen hours later, six days a week. To top it off, very few cheesemakers ever get rich. Wills admits he\u2019s still waiting to strike it rich nearly two decades into the journey. But Wills, like most who enter this hallowed profession, does it for more than just a paycheck.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great lifestyle and a good way to raise kids,\u201d says Wills. He and his wife just sent their oldest son, Bo, off to college. Daughter Emma is a senior in high school, while son Owen, 12, is a seventh-grader. \u201cPlus, people seem to appreciate the creativity of what we\u2019re doing here at Cedar Grove. We have fun, we\u2019re open to new ideas, and I get to work with some of the most exciting people in the industry every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Wills, in a strategic move one might expect from a button-down former professor, decided eight years ago to open his specialty cheese plant to farmers interested in having a custom product made from their milk as well as to up-and-coming cheesemakers looking to rent a cheese vat to experiment with new recipes.<\/p>\n
Today, Wills, a Master Cheesemaker in his own right (Wisconsin is the only state to both license its cheesemakers and offer an advanced certification program), has helped launch at least seven cheese brands, including, arguably, the most famous cheese ever to come from Wisconsin: Pleasant Ridge Reserve, crafted by Mike Gingrich of Uplands Cheese Company. Gingrich produced his award-winning Beaufort-style cheese at Cedar Grove for four years before building his own farmstead cheese plant in 2004. But Pleasant Ridge Reserve isn\u2019t the only award-winner to come out of Cedar Grove. Of the 88 awards captured by Wisconsin cheesemakers at the 2008 American Cheese Society Competition, 14 were won either by cheesemakers mentored by Wills or by cheeses currently made at Cedar Grove.<\/p>\n Take Bleu Mont Dairy\u2019s Willi Lehner, for example. A second-generation cheesemaker, Lehner rents space at Cedar Grove to make his award-winning cheeses, including his Bandaged Cheddar, named in the September 2008 issue of Wine Spectator<\/cite> as one of \u201c100 Great Cheeses\u201d of the world. Wills says renting his cheese plant to outside cheesemakers during off-production hours benefits everyone. \u201cI learn something from every one of the people making cheese at my plant. Cheesemakers like Willi\u2014who\u2019s always trying something new\u2014are an absolute delight to work with. They constantly teach me new things, and I offer advice when asked. It\u2019s definitely a two-way street.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of stiff competition, strict environmental standards, and confidentiality issues, very few cheese plants across the nation open their facilities to other cheesemakers. Nobody knows that better than Mike Gingrich. In 2000, Gingrich and his wife, Carol, decided to experiment with making a seasonal, alpine-style cheese from the milk of pasture-grazed cows on their farm near Dodgeville, Wisconsin. The initial investment of building a farmstead plant with an unproven product was intimidating, so instead they approached area cheesemakers to see if any would be willing to rent out their plant for a few hours a week. Wills was the only cheesemaker to say yes, and the endeavor has since paid off for both parties.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine how we could have gotten started in this business without Bob\u2019s cooperation,\u201d Gingrich says. \u201cFor the first four years we made cheese at Cedar Grove, we doubled our production every year and put all of our profits back into the business so we could keep growing. There\u2019s no way we could have done that if we had a mortgage to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n Renowned as both a mentor and an incubator for up-and-coming cheesemakers, Bob Wills is not only an award-winning Master Cheesemaker in his own right, but as the head of Cedar Grove Cheese in Plain, Wisconsin, he\u2019s helped build the brand for dozens of award winners.<\/em><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a sampling of some of the companies Wills has partnered with since 2000:<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Wills, ever-modest, downplays the impact he\u2019s had on start-up cheesemakers such as Gingrich. He instead focuses on the bigger picture: \u201cI\u2019m interested in finding ways to empower farmers and partner with others to better market and distribute Wisconsin cheese. Ultimately, life is about people. It\u2019s about relationships and helping people change the way they look at their food.\u201d<\/p>\n In a testament to his personal philosophy of helping others, he harbors no ill will when some cheesemakers, such as Gingrich, leave Cedar Grove and graduate to their own farmstead plants. Instead of viewing it as losing business, he simply finds another opportunity to partner with a neighbor and create another start-up cheese business. \u201cSomething always comes up,\u201d he says, smiling.<\/p>\n Lately, that something is a surge in demand from dairy farmers looking to add value to their farms by hiring Wills to craft specialty cheeses specifically for them. One example is the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative, based in northwestern Wisconsin. This farmer-owned cooperative pools its milk and ships it to Cedar Grove, where Wills crafts two award-winning cheeses: Dante, an aged sheep\u2019s milk cheese with a buttery, nutty flavor, which took Best in Class at the 2006 American Cheese Society Competition; and Mona, a mixed-milk cheese made from sheep\u2019s and cow\u2019s milk and aged to produce an appealing, robust flavor. The cheeses consistently win ribbons at national and world competitions.<\/p>\n Wills also crafts an array of specialty organic cheeses for Next Generation Organic Dairy of Mondovi and Otter Creek Organic Farm in Avoca, Wisconsin. in addition, he produces a line of certified-kosher cheeses for Sugar River Cheese in Deerfield, Illinois. His next customer might just be a neighboring start-up farmer that has a herd of water buffalo and is interested in making fresh mozzarella at Cedar Grove.<\/p>\n In all, Wills and his 35 employees\u2014including his \u201csecret weapon,\u201d cheesemaker Dan Hetzel, who has worked fifty-two years at Cedar Grove\u2014craft about 4 million pounds of cheese a year. Wills acts as the wizard behind the cheddar curtain, always coming up with new varieties and overseeing production with a core group of employees loyal to his mission of sustainable production and environmental leadership.<\/p>\n In fact, Wills was the first cheesemaker in the United States to label his cheese as rBGH-free in 1993. He was on the cutting edge of the controversy related to bovine growth hormones and genetically modified foods, and to this day Wills does not feel comfortable using milk that comes from cows given artificial hormones. All farmers who ship milk to Cedar Grove commit to rBGH-free milk production. In addition, Wills is committed to exceeding the standards for wastewater treatment and has sought out innovative methods to run his plant in an energy-efficient manner.<\/p>\n Cedar Grove\u2019s own cheeses are mostly specialty and organic varieties, such as flavored Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Colby, Havarti, and Butterkaese. Between different cheesemakers coming and going, and Cedar Grove pumping out its own cheese, the plant is rarely idle. One begins to wonder when Wills has time to develop new varieties, such as his latest line of layered cheeses. Cedar Grove\u2019s Cumin & Cloves Dutch Style captured a Best of Class award at this summer\u2019s American Cheese Society Competition in Chicago. The cheese is striped with a layer of spices through the center of the wheel, a rich, nutty organic cheddar. Rounding out the new line are Cracked Fennel in Organic Cheddar, Fenugreek in Butterkase, Rosemary in Organic Cheddar, and a new favorite: Naturally Smoked Cheddar with Smoked Salmon & Dill.<\/p>\n Wills crafts all of his cheese with an eye to sustainability. In 2007, Cedar Grove Cheese, along with 13 dairy farms who supply milk to the plant, completed certification with the Midwest Food Alliance in Minneapolis, earning distinction as the first food processor in the United States recognized for its commitment to green technology. The Midwest Food Alliance evaluated several aspects of the businesses, such as environmental practices, labor standards, and animal welfare issues.<\/p>\n Wills says his dedication to finding innovative ways to ensure the plant operates in an environmentally friendly manner stems from his childhood. Growing up in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Wills was taken by his father, a newspaper man, each year on a summer trip to the Boundary Waters, a region of wilderness straddling the Canada-United States border just west of Lake Superior. \u201cI learned that it\u2019s all about the water, plain and simple,\u201d he says. He continues to apply that childhood lesson in every aspect at Cedar Grove, from the way he chooses to treat his wastewater to the way he powers his plant.<\/p>\n This philosophy is part of the reason Wills and the rest of Wisconsin\u2019s cheesemakers are seen more and more as innovation leaders in a state once better known for its foam cheese heads and commodity cheddars than its specialty and artisan varieties.<\/p>\n Wills is committed to recycling as well as reducing Cedar Grove Cheese\u2019s energy usage. In 2000, he implemented an earth-friendly and cost-effective way to handle the 7,000 gallons of wash water used daily in their facility. Named the Living Machine, this elaborate greenhouse system mimics the water cleaning power of wetlands using natural microbes and plants. At the end of the complex process, wastewater is filtered into clean water and returned to the ecosystem via nearby Honey Creek.<\/p>\n The Living Machine consists of ten tanks, each extending four feet underground and holding 2,600 gallons of water. Tanks are connected by four-inch pipes beneath the ground; gravity causes water to flow between them. With two closed aerobic tanks, a series of open aerobic tanks, a settling tank, and a host of filters\u2014all surrounded by tropical wetland plants that can grow as much as six inches per week\u2014the ecosystem can some days resemble Little Shop of Horrors<\/cite>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe natural process of treating our wastewater helps us remember that what goes down the drain matters,\u201d Wills explains.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nAn absolute delight<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Big Cheese<\/h3>\n
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Empowering farmers<\/h3>\n
His secret weapon<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Living Machine<\/h3>\n