Arbuthnot Dairy Center

Arbuthnot Dairy Center

Cheesemaking in the Arbuthnot Dairy CenterWelcome to the Arbuthnot Dairy Center

A generous donation from Paul and Sandra Arbuthnot led to the creation of the Arbuthnot Dairy Center. The Center provides funding to develop and deliver programs for state-of-the-art education and research (teaching and Extension), targeted to individuals, family farmers, and smaller processors that produce dairy foods in Oregon, Oregon State University students, and dairy foods industry related personnel, for purposes of improving and enhancing the safety, quality and functionality of dairy products, and advancing the technological efficiency of dairy processing plants. Educational endeavors may relate to product quality assurance, product improvement and development, product safety and sanitation, water treatment and waste management, microbiology, engineering, economics, distribution, sales & marketing, and/or other disciplines or fields pertinent to dairy processing.

The Center consists of a classroom, a dairy technology laboratory, and a licensed commercial dairy pilot plant.

Current activities at the Arbuthnot Dairy Center

Production of OSU Beaver Classic Cheese
A student centered project that involves the commercial production of the Beaver Classic. Students develop, produce, and sell cheeses using milk from the OSU dairy farm. Students receive authentic and intense training in dairy processing while earning money to pay for their education. The program is self-supported through the sale of Beaver Classic™ Cheese.

Extension Workshops/Short Courses
Workshops in cheese technology, affinage, and safe production methods are scheduled regularly. Target audiences are dairy industry employees, artisan cheese makers, dairy farmers, and future dairy entrepreneurs. Instructors include national and internationally recognized dairy experts.

Business Incubator
The objective of this program is to help specialty dairy entrepreneurs successfully start up their companies. Dairy entrepreneurs can rent time in the facility to develop and produce cheeses that can be sold commercially.  The duration of the business rental is up to one year.  To produce cheeses commercially the company must be licensed with Oregon Department of Agriculture, have liability insurance, and have permits such as pasteurizer and milk tester permits.

OSU Classes
The OSU dairy processing classes are taught in the center as well.