On the 1st May Mary Quicke celebrated her 70th birthday – a milestone that marks not just a personal achievement but a remarkable life dedicated to farming, cheesemaking, and championing sustainable food systems.
We caught up with Mary to reflect on the highlights of her journey, the changing face of British cheese, and what she’s most excited about as she looks ahead – both for Quicke’s, and for the future of food and farming.
1.You've been involved in so many interesting projects during your career. Could you share some of the highlights?
Co founding Maize Growers Association in 1988 when I realised there was no knowledge in the UK about how to feed dairy cows on maize. Providing the impetus to support the foundation of Raw Drinking Milk Producers Association when I realised what a challenge raw drinking milk was to the Food Standards Agency in 2016. Co founding academy of Cheese when I saw what a contribution Certified Cheese Professional exam was to all parts of the cheese industry in the US. Gestating, birthing and rearing Academy of Cheese to where we are now: our first Masters of Cheese imminent, over 6000 people across 91 countries studying or have studied with Academy of Cheese. Building our business: moving from high input Holsteins to crossbred cows able to graze almost year round to produce fabulous milk for cheese. Being part of saving the heritage starter cultures (thank you Barbers, for coming to the rescue). Developing our cheesemaking with the help of the wonderful Val Bines. Developing our mite control machine when we lost the ability to fumigate. Developing our brand, maybe the first on farm brand
2.How have things changed in the cheese world, since your career at Quicke's began?
When I started, traditional clothbound cheddar was a left behind thing, what people made if they hadn’t kept up with the times. Now, there is a whole network of amazing young people fired up with what’s possible in artisan cheese, what’s possible for climate and biodiversity, with people farming and making cheese that belongs to a place.
3.What's your proudest moment in cheese so far?
Going and getting my MBE from the then Prince Charles. The citation was ‘contribution to agriculture’. Prince Charles said, ‘no, this is for contribution to cheese’. Not quite sure to this day what it was for.
4.What's next on your agenda?
Supporting my daughter Jane how she wants me to, to take our business forward. For myself, I’d like to find a way to communicate the importance of an animal step in farming for soil health, and connect people with how their food gets produced so they can make good choices. I’m not sure how to do that and hope I can get some ideas from somewhere if I put it out there.
5.Which new developments in food and farming do you find most exciting?
The importance of soil health. Academy of Cheese: education and understanding is the way to have the whole chain work better.
6. What have you learned from a life in cheese?
Keep learning and developing, honour and respect other people’s views and ways of doing things. Have fun, this isn’t a dry run.
