Three scholarships are awarded annually, offering highly sought-after tuition with Australia’s top cheesemakers.
Roache has been a passionate member of the Australian dairy industry for more than 35 years. He runs his family business in southwest Victoria, managing and developing a substantial dairy farming business that now produces over five million litres of milk annually.
He is a firm believer that upstream value adding is crucial for the Australian dairy industry to remain competitive in the long-term. In line with this belief, the vision for his next business endeavour is to produce and market world-class cheeses that are unique to Australia.
Suzanne Harnett has worked with her husband in the management of their dairy farm business in the Burringbar region of Australia. A few years ago, they decided to diversify their dairy business in order to build a sustainable future, and Suzanne made the decision to pursue cheese-making. Since early 2008, she has been experimenting with a range of soft cheese varieties, including whey ricotta, cottage cheese, labna, marinated fetta and haloumi.
Englishman Geoff Nicholson came to Australia 20 years ago. Keen to grow and add value to his dairy business, Geoff has spent considerable time developing his theoretical knowledge of cheese-making and is looking forward to supplementing this knowledge with practical cheese-making skills.
The cheesemaker scholarship offers a series of part-time courses run through the National Centre for Dairy Education – Australia. Recipients also receive hands-on experience and mentoring from three specialty cheese manufacturers across Australia, including National Foods, Bega Cheese and Milawa Cheese Company.
Gale McLardie, marketing manager Dairy Australia, said: “Australia produces some of the world’s best milk – the raw material for world-beating artisan cheeses. That’s why specialty cheese is a fast-growing, niche market, growing over the last decade from 15,000 tonnes a year to more than 31,000 tonnes a year. There are many people keen to get involved in this dynamic industry, and Dairy Australia, along with its partners, is delighted to provide these scholarships to further build the sophistication and skill of those undertakings.”
Source: Dairy Australia
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