Wis. remains tops in cheese contest with Calif.

Meanwhile, Foremost Farms USA idled a plant in Waumandee in western Wisconsin in January 2007, retooled it to make a premium type of cheddar and reopened it in March. The temporary shutdown was "not insignificant" in terms of the state's cheese production, Foremost Farms spokeswoman Joan Behr said.

Also in March, BelGioioso Cheese Inc. opened its fifth plant in Wisconsin.

California now has 61 cheese plants compared to Wisconsin's 124. The Golden State's plants are larger, but they're pretty much operating at full capacity while Wisconsin's could probably make a bit more, federal and state agricultural officials said.

That means California would have to add plants to move ahead in the race for the title of Big Cheese. But more new plants are opening now in places such as Idaho and the Texas panhandle, which have growing dairy farms and lower costs, said economist Don Blayney, of the Economic Research Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Companies have struggled in recent years to build new plants in California, where the permit process can take four to six years, said Michael Marsh, chief executive officer of the Western United Dairymen, which represents milk producers there.

Cheesemakers also contend with opposition from environmental groups and, if they get a plant open, high workers compensation costs, Marsh said.

"It is a challenge for us," he said. "The state of California really has to make our state attractive to businesses to locate here."

Wisconsin has worked to increase the state's milk supply after cheesemakers said they needed about 15 percent more milk than they had, said Will Hughes, agricultural development administrator. The state has recruited farmers, encouraged them to add cows and provided incentives for them to install newer, more efficient equipment.

The effort has paid off with renewed investment from companies such as BelGioioso.

The company based in Denmark, a village about 100 miles north of Milwaukee, has chosen to expand here because there's an ample milk supply and it's equally easy to ship from the Midwest to both coasts, marketing manager Jamie Wichlacz said. The plant in Freedom is the second new one the company has opened in about five years.