Prairie Farms Dominates In World Dairy Expo Championship
The results are in for this year’s World Dairy Expo Championship
Dairy Product Contest. In all, there were 267 winners, and with its 47 awards, or 18% of total awards, Prairie
Farms dominated the contest with more wins than any competing company, including the top honor of Grade A
Grand Champion for Regular Small Curd Cottage Cheese. The contest, held in Madison, Wisconsin, is one of the country’s most prestigious 
dairy judging competitions.
Prairie Farms and its family of companies, including Hiland Dairy, won a combined 47 awards, including 15
first place championship trophies, 19 second place medallions, and 13 third place medallions. The awards
included six near-perfect scores. “Earning the right to market our products as ‘Best of the Best’ is an important recognition. The awards are
indicative of the tireless efforts of our 700+ farm families and 7,800 team members to produce the highest
quality dairy products available. Our consistent commitment to excellence has positioned our farmer-owned
cooperative as an industry leader for 83 years,” said Rebecca Leinenbach, Prairie Farms’ VP of
Marketing/Communications. “We surpassed the number of WDE awards we brought home in 2019 by 52%,
and we’re excited to share our success with our customers.” Prairie Farms made several strong showings, including Small Curd Cottage Cheese from its Carbondale, Illinois
plant winning first place and a grand championship in the Regular Cottage Cheese category. Prairie Farms 4%
Cottage Cheese from the Quincy, Illinois plant was close behind, earning second place in the category. Small
Curd Lowfat Cottage Cheese from Carbondale also took first place in the Lowfat and No Fat Cottage Cheese
category. Lowfat 2% Cottage Cheese from Hiland Dairy’s Chandler, Oklahoma plant took second place in the
same category. Big cheese wins for the Luana, Iowa plant included Prairie Farms Baby Swiss Cheese taking top honors in the
Swiss Styles category, Swiss Cheese earned second place in the same category. Luana’s Havarti earned third
place in the Brick, Muenster, Havarti category and a first place win for Cream Cheese in the Plain Cream
Cheese category. Prairie Farms’ Shullsburg Creamery took first place with Cranberry Chipotle Cheddar in the
Flavored Natural Cheeses category and third place for Bourbon Barrel Smoked Cracked Peppercorn Cheddar in
the Smoked Flavored Natural Cheese category. Prairie Farms’ Caves of Faribault division took second place in
the Blue Veined Cheeses category with St. Pete’s Select® Blue Cheese. Prairie Farms’ Rochester Cheese plant earned second place in the Cold Pack Cheese, Cheese Food, and Cheese Spread category with Pasteurized
Processed Swiss American Cheese. It was a sweeping win for Prairie Farms in the UHT Milk & Aseptic Milk category with first, second, and third
place awards for Whole Milk, and 2% Milk from its plants in Granite City, Illinois, and Battle Creek, Michigan.
Prairie Farms also took first place with Whole Buttermilk in the Cultured Milk category, first place with 2%
Chocolate Milk in the Lowfat Chocolate Milk 2% category, and third place for Whole Chocolate Milk in the
Whole Chocolate Milk category. Hiland Dairy won first place with White Milk in the White Milk category.
Prairie Farms UHT Salted Caramel Milk from Battle Creek secured a solid second place in the Open Class
Flavored Milk category. More strong showings from the World Dairy Expo came for Prairie Farms in the Yogurt, Sour Cream, Dips, and
Whipping Cream categories, including a first place finish for Whole Milk Vanilla Yogurt out of Quincy in the
Vanilla Yogurt category and a first place win for Quincy’s 3% Whole Milk Peach Yogurt in the Open Class
Yogurt category. Hiland Dairy captured first place wins with Regular Sour Cream and Lite Sour Cream in the
Sour Cream and Lowfat Sour Cream categories. Prairie Farms took second place with Lowfat Sour Cream in
the same category. In the Open Sour Cream Based Dips category, Prairie Farms took first place with Veggie
Ranch Dip. Hiland Dairy scored second and third place with Sassy Salsa and Jalapeno Fiesta Dips in the Sour
Cream Based Dips – Southwest category. Hiland Dairy earned third with Toasted Onion Dip in the Sour Cream
Based Dips – Onion category. In the Whipping Cream and Heaving Whipping Cream category, Granite City’s
Heavy Whipping Cream came in second with a near-perfect score of 99.99. To top off all the great awards, Prairie Farms’ Rockford, Illinois plant brought home a second place finish for
Philly Vanilla Ice Cream in the Philly Vanilla category, while Hiland Dairy earned second with French Vanilla
in the French Vanilla category. Prairie Farms’ Ice Cream Specialties Division netted third place with Strawberry
Shortcake in the Strawberry Ice Cream category. Prairie Farms Salty Caramel from the Rockford plant received
third place in the Ice Cream with Caramel category. Prairie Farms’ Luana plant brought home second place with
Sweet Whey Powder within the Whey category. The World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest is sponsored by the Wisconsin Dairy Products
Association. Over 1,400 product entries from across the country competed in 90 contest classes, including
cheese, fluid milk, yogurt, butter, sour cream, dairy dips, ice cream, cottage cheese, and whey products. An
awards ceremony will be held at the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest Auction on
September 29, 2021. To see our full list of wins along with descriptions and scores visit our 2021 World Dairy
Expo Champions page.
