It looks like an eco-friendly future can include culinary delights like artisan cheeses. Introducing the first Platinum LEED-certified dairy: Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co., from Prince Edward County, Ontario.
With a rather expensive price tag of $2 million, Fifth Town is using a windmill, solar panels, low-flow faucets, non-toxic paints, and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood to green the building they use to create award winning handmade goat and sheep cheeses.
But being green pays off. Heat and light sensors help to keep energy costs low, and the windmill alone saves $200 per month on power costs. Normal dairies age cheese with energy-guzzling fridges along with fog machines. Fifth Town employs three naturally cool and humid cement caves. They’ve also engineered a bio-wetland system that allows for the disposal of the by-product whey and which will save money in the long run as opposed to trucking it offsite.
Well-deserved publicity over their sustainability shone a spotlight on the dairy which has been operating since July 2008. CEO and founder Petra Cooper explains: “If I had to buy that media attention, I couldn’t have afforded to.”
Fifth Town has not only garnered recognition in its green enterprises, but has received kudos for its quality product, winning almost 30 awards from places like the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, the British Empire Cheese Competition and the American Cheese Society.
Through the ‘free’ green publicity, Fifth Town has attracted loyal employees, as well as an avid customer following who, during summer months, can enjoy free tours of the green premises and purchase tasty morsels. Smart consumers realize that they are paying slightly higher prices not only for a system of production that does not harm the environment, but also for milk that comes from local, environmentally-sound farms, and for earth-friendly packaging.
It’s a win-win situation for those who love cheese, for an eco-conscious company with a quality product, and for the earth. Well done to the green dairy, Fifth Town!
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