No kidding. Family jobs aren't easy to come by on the coast; this hurts not only the individuals and their families, but the rest of that small, local economy as well. Not sure what impelled them to set up shop in Idaho and Utah, but it's getting a lot harder to support the Tillamook brand.

Remember when they were hassling people in Bandon over their use of the name "Bandon"? They've gotten too big for their breeches.

"Not sure what impelled them to set up shop in Idaho and Utah, but it's getting a lot harder to support the Tillamook brand."

For reasons I don't fully understand, dairy production has been shifting to eastern Oregon, which helps explain why production facilities are shifting east.

Granted, it's harder for a cow to drown in Umatilla County, unlike Tillamook in 1996...

A Co-Op of greed. Many an old Swiss Dairy farmer is rolling over in their grave.

Look what their grand children have done.

Land o' Fakes.

Another reason to buy Fred Meyer's brand.

Doggone, did any of you posters that are negative about this read the full article in Headlight Herald that Jack linked? It explains why TCCA made the decision and they didn’t do it lightly. It is tough to be in business and sometimes you have to make these kind of decisions or soon you will be out of business.

Not only did I read it, it's still in an open tab - and it's a rehash of previous reports printed elsewhere. It also doesn't explain a few things, such as why cheese produced at Boardman was trucked to Tillamook to be aged, then trucked over to Idaho and Utah for packaging. The article's actually more apologetic in tone than some other reports - and gee, I can't imagine why. Is it possible that they don't want to (A)Offend an advertiser in a small coastal community or (B) risk even more jobs?

Moreover, as I noted, that number of layoffs has a huge impact in the coastal community, above and beyond the individuals and their immediate families.

And as our host mentioned, that whole Bandon thing was pretty sleazy as well - really out of line.

When they're reasonable, I tend to be on the side of business. When they're not, I'm not.

After reading the Tillamook Herold Article it occurs to me that TCCA seems to be either looking to expand their brand south and east, or position themselves to be purchased. They OBVIOUSLY found no reason, or advantage, to buy or expand into Portland, ON I5 & I84 to put the at the crossroads of those Highways. I80 & I15 must hold greater promise for expansion.

A company needs to make a profit to survive and for anyone to have a job. If you have to lose 50 jobs to save 450, that's better than losing 500. Face it, logistically Oregon has its drawbacks, and as a distribution center for the whole country, the Oregon coast is the kiss of death. This is the price of Tillamook Creamery growing its operations and that is not a bad thing. Extra sharp cheddar....mmmmmm.

If the local company is in trouble, it would make me want to support Tillamook more rather than less. There still are many people employed on the coast at that company that need continued support.

However, I am very much troubled by corporate interference in the quality of a local product. I purchased Tillamook based on their cheese coming from cows tested for antibiotics prior to using, and rBST being kept at bay.
Now, if factory farms and Monsanto products are coming in as the blogger below wrote in the Herald paper, (link above) then all bets are off as far as my supporting this company.
Growing GMO corn in our local area where we all partake of their milk, ice cream, etc. is the reason I will not support that product any longer. I am very sorry to say, I want to support that community, but this is a big issue with me. We need to stop this corporate takeover of the kind of food and water we drink!

CornFed posted at 10:15 am on Fri, Jan 20, 2012.
CornFed Posts: 2
The readers should refer to the 11-9-11 H.H. article titled “Corn on the Coast,” by Denise Porter. It says 600 acres of GM (genetically modified) corn were planted and fed to Tillamook cows for Tillamook Cheese. The article explained how the fields were sprayed with Roundup Ready (heribicide) and planted with GM corn, both products by Monsanto, the same company that makes rBST.

After reading that H.H. article, TCCA would make Tillamook cheese from milk produced from cows that ate all that GM corn? I have heard there was only one area farmer who did not use Roundup Ready and GM corn. I believe it was an organic farmer in Cloverdale, the Price’s Dairy, whose milk does not go to TCCA.

For the last 100 years, Tillamook cheese was produced from cows that grazed on family farms. Now, the area has some “factory farmers” who do not graze their cows at all. These few “factory farmers” now want to feed their cows with GM corn and have that milk used in making Tillamook cheese. YUK! Not my thing! I will not eat it.

I feel conflicted about this, as I have relatives in the midwest who are farmers and I am so sad about what has happened to many of them and the products they apparently have to use to stay in business and then the end products we consume. I want to support the small farmers and not have us go down the road of corporates only providing our food and water. It seems one way or another these farmers are taken out by the system or "wrangled" into what I consider an unhealthy system. No longer about the health of food but based on money. Years ago a cousin told me he does not like what the government has told him he needs to seed, etc. and is concerned about pesticides. My response is get corporation/government out of our food!!

GMO? This is an experiment, Europe does not allow GMOs and at the very least GMO should be labeled as such and it isn't.
If there are others who are concerned about this, we need to let Tillamook know.
Another matter, why all this packaging? ...and in plastic bags I might add. What is wrong with shredding ones own cheese? I guess convenience, to each their own.

http://mckayjenkins.com/
Book by McKay Jenkins: What's Gotten Into Us:
Staying Healthy in a Toxic World.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food

This is all about sustainability, folks. Those Boardman cows feed on grass that grows lush from the fields where they spread Portland's "biosolids" (known to the lay person as poop). The grass feeds on your poop, the cows feed on the grass, the cows produce milk that's made into cheese and ice cream, humans consume these products (that started as poop). Its the circle of life, friends. Of course, the circle of life has no mechanism for getting rid of endocrine disrupters and toxic heavy metals that concentrate in human tissue. But, hey, lets not question the safety of these practices, folks, this it "sustainability", remember? and we all know that sustainability is good for us, right??

Re: "However, I am very much troubled by corporate interference in the quality of a local product."

clinamen,

Tillamook's popular Vintage White Extra Sharp (Fred's: 2lbs @ $13.99), allegedly "aged over two years," has, beginning a couple of months ago, become an undistinguished product -- hardly the rival it used to be for, say, a Cabot cheddar. This could be owing to deficient ingredients or to a production process that has sacrificed quality.

Last year, this item was often offered by Fred's at an attractive sale price of $8.99 or $9.99; but, although other 2lb cheddar blocks in the family (e.g., yellow extra sharp, white medium) have continued to be regularly offered at modest sale prices, the Vintage White has not been offered at a sale price for at least six months.

It would appear, that is, that Tillamook emptied its warehouses of the higher quality product last year in order that the lower quality product might be sold without direct comparison with the higher quality cheddar the company has decided to produce no longer. Soon, corporate marketing management expects, the higher quality cheddar will have been forgotten by Tillamook's customers.

But this is only speculation upon the relatively tasteless item Tillamook is vending. Perhaps it can be explained by an altered diet among the herds, which may be -- if cheddar fans are fortunate -- temporary.

Its a free country. Those 47 relatively unskilled workers, probably the products of the finest the OEA has to offer to the citizen-taxpayers, can move to idaho and compete for the jobs being sent there.

And... Good luck with that.

If you have to lose 50 jobs to save 450, that's better than losing 500.

Perhaps, though I noticed further down in the TLH section that: according to Harold, 50 "positions" are being cut in the packaging line. Each position had a "day shift" and a "swing shift". In other words, as many as 100 people could be losing their jobs.

Moreover, none of the managers, assistant managers, assistant-assistant managers (a.k.a. "supervisors") appear to have been included in the cuts.

And the gag order included in the "severance packages" has the aroma of fresh-cut cheese about it.

Cheese from Europe for those who are concerned about GMO.
Investigate the cheese from Ireland at New Seasons.

http://www.naturalnews.com/034492_Dow_AgroScience_deregulation_2-4-D.html#ixzz1hkQjuong

Previously used as a weapon in the Vietnam War, 2,4-D may now be dropped en masse on U.S. crop fields
What's most astonishing about this petition request is that if it is approved, the U.S. would then become an "agricultural war zone" where genetically engineered corn is "carpet bombed" with 2,4-D chemicals. Being resistant to such chemicals, the GE corn may then uptake those chemicals into its own structures and grain kernels, thereby creating corn laced with 2,4-D that would be unleashed when you eat your corn-based breakfast cereals or corn tortillas.

Corn is in practically everything you buy at the grocery store, one way or another. Watch the document King Corn to learn more: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1112115/

Not only GMO, but add a little Agent Orange now to the mix?

Do not want to unduly scare people here, but we need to pay attention to what has happened to the food we eat and what may be coming.
Congress needs to hear from us to put a stop to this...they and their families eat too!

Tell Obama to Cease FDA Ties to Monsanto

President Obama has appointed former Monsanto VP and lobbyist Michael Taylor
to become senior advisor to the FDA's commissioner.

Petition to sign. Click here:

http://signon.org/sign/tell-obama-to-cease-fda?source=s.em.cp&r_by=2373657