Maine’s artisanal cheese industry is the fastest-growing in the country, and it’s close to reaching New York and Pennsylvania in terms of the state’s number of retail cheesemakers.
The Associated Press reported that Maine’s number of cheesemakers doubled to 80 in 2014 over the past four years. New York’s number of cheesemakers was at 90 as of last year and Pennsylvania’s was at 94 as of 2013.
“Local food is a big movement,” Eric Rector, president of the Maine Cheese Guild, told the news agency. “Small cheese makers here have benefited from people being more aware than they were 10 years ago of the value of agriculture in our community.”
