Hills & Coast Grant: Section28 Artisan Cheeses

Grant Recipient Case Study – 2021 Funding Round

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Section28 Artisan Cheeses has developed a reputation here, and abroad, for creating exceptional quality cheeses that reflect the terroir and seasonal conditions of the Adelaide Hills.

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Based in Woodside, South Australia, Section28 Artisan Cheeses is one of the few commercial producers of raw milk cheeses in Australia. Launched in 2015, they have already won multiple awards, including National Champion at the Australian Grand Dairy Awards for both their raw milk cheeses.

Overcoming technical barriers

The challenge Section28 faced was in boosting the technical capability of both their production house and staff in order to fast-track growth and support ongoing innovation.

Throughout the cheesemaking process, testing and analysis is required at a number of stages to understand the nature of the raw milk and how it’s unique qualities may impact the development and outcome of the cheese it is used to make. Section28 would send milk samples to external laboratories for analysis, which could wait several weeks for results to return. As a result, the team was left relying largely on guesswork and trial and error when making time-critical decisions about how each batch of milk would impact their cheeses.

With more timely information, the cheesemakers at Section28 could have information at the right time to improve productivity and reduce losses associated with inconsistent product.

How the Hills and Coast Business Grant was put to use

The Hills and Coast Business Grant provided Section28 Artisan Cheeses the opportunity to purchase several important pieces of equipment to provide real-time information about the raw milk they were using and further analyse their cheeses at key stages. Additionally, the purchase of the equipment has reduced the cost of outsourcing testing to external labs.

Their equipment purchases included:

Real-time analysis of the raw milk, in conjunction with accurate data about the finished cheeses, is allowing the cheesemakers at Section28 to more confidently develop, produce and improve their range of raw milk cheeses.

Building on a recipe for success

As a result of receiving the grant funding to purchase their equipment, Section28 Artisan Cheeses has already seen product loss reduced from 10% to 2-3%.

Additionally, the equipment has seen significant reductions in the time required to improve existing cheeses, and more quickly develop new cheeses in response to market demand with the new Section28 Toma cheese launching at least 9 months ahead of schedule.

In terms of production and plans for the company, Director and Head Cheesemaker, Kym Masters believes they are now 1-2 years ahead of where they would have been without the aid of the grant to purchase the equipment.

Feedback on the Hills & Coast grant process

After being alerted to the Hills and Coast Business Grant through RDA Business Weekly, Kym said he found the process of applying to be quite straightforward and appreciated the opportunity for guidance throughout the process.

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