California’s cheese industry may pass Wisconsin

California is expected to surpass Wisconsin as the nation’s largest cheese maker within a few years, according to a report in the Fresno Bee. Last year, California’s cheese production reached a record 2.14 billion pounds, double what it produced more than a decade ago. Cheese companies with large-scale Valley factories, including Land O’Lakes in Tulare, Leprino Foods Co. in Lemoore and Marquez Brothers International in Hanford, produce more than 1 billion pounds of cheese a year. They employ more than 2,000 workers in Kings, Tulare and Merced counties. The Blue Ribbon Cheese Co. in Bakersfield recently announced plans to build a $220 million cheese plant in Fresno County, where it expects to use 6.8 million pounds of milk a day to make 680,000 pounds of cheese.