The Cheese Futures campaign organized by Alaska Farmers and Stockgrowers Inc., in cooperation with Valley Dairy, is offering the public packages of aged cheddar cheese in $30, $90 and $150 gift packages.

The cheese must be aged at least 60 days and won't be available for delivery until the spring. Still the upfront payments allow farmers to be paid for their milk on an ongoing basis, said Karen Olson, secretary/treasurer of the Alaska Farmers and Stockbrokers.

Eventually there also will be a variety of other cheeses, liquid milk products and several varieties of ice cream, all produced with 100 percent local milk, said Kyle Beus, a former dairy farmer and primary owner of the creamery, initially dubbed Valley Dairy.

The campaign was prompted by the plight of dairy farmers left without buyers for 60 percent of the 1,500 gallons to 1,600 gallons of milk their cows produce daily in the four dairy farms still operating in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. The state operated Matanuska Maid Dairy, which closed last year after operating losses became substantial, previously purchased all their milk.

Alaska Farmers and Stockgrowers will contract with farmers to initially pay a higher-than-normal rate for raw milk to offset the losses now being incurred, as much of the milk has to be dumped for lack of buyers. While Northern Lights Dairy in Delta Junction is picking up some milk, there is currently no market for the rest of it.

Beus said one large corporation concerned about keeping dairy farmers financially afloat has already pre-purchased a substantial amount of cheese, which it plans to donate to a charitable cause.

Several other corporations have also expressed an interest in large pre-purchases and there has been a tremendous interest from the public who are very concerned about losing the dairy industry, Beus said.

Valley Dairy needs the dairy farms to keep operating to provide the milk it needs to process for cheese, ice cream and milk product once their 12,000-square-foot facility is remodeled and open for business near the Four Corners intersection on the Palmer Wasilla Highway.

Some hay and barley farmers are discounting their products to the dairy farmers, Beus said.

“The farmers are working together because they realize how intertwined this whole industry is,” he said. “It's all about cash flow for the farmers: If I fail, the farmers fail.”

“We can't let all these efforts fail now, just because the state-owned creamery had no severance package in place for farmers,” Olson said. “Private efforts, supported by customers who believe in local food and local farmers, must take over now.”

The new plant will include a cheese room, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation's milk inspection team has given the provisional go-ahead to begin using the cheese portion prior to the startup of the companion fluid milk processing unit. Beus said he plans to begin accepting milk from the farms by early March.

“I think we're going to turn a corner and grow the dairy industry instead of watching it die,” Beus said, who got a federal financial assist in the form of a $650,000 rural development infrastructure grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “We're never going to be a huge industry, but I can see it growing to four or five times what it is now.”

Beus, his wife, Sandy, and his brother, Kevin Beus, came to the Valley from Washington State in 2000, with plans for a 400-cow dairy farm. After they moved 200 cows to their Point MacKenzie farm, the borders were closed to the transport of more cows through Canada. Then a collision on the Parks Highway in Wasilla on July 20, 2004, left Sandy and Kyle's daughter, Brook, with traumatic brain injury and they sold the farm to be able to better care for her and their other four children in Wasilla.

The couple bought the historic Teeland's store in downtown Wasilla, where they now operate a restaurant six days a week, while planning for the new creamery.

While fluid milk products will be the backbone of the creamery, the Beus' also plan to produce eight to 10 varieties of cheeses, plus two dozen or more varieties of ice cream, incorporating ingredients such as wild blueberries, birch syrup and salmonberries.

Approximately 60 percent of the creamy space will be used for dairy processing, but the remaining 40 percent will be a retail section, where the public can come to shop and also watch cheese and ice cream making in progress.

The Beus' are counting on local support of the dairy farmers and pride in their fresh product to make it a success.

“Our milk,” said Kevin Beus, “can come in from the barn to the cream to the store in the same day.”

For information, call (907) 746-2223.