What we are about

Our mission is to leave the world a better place than when we started. Together with our farmers, we dedicate ourselves every day to a healthy farming landscape, full of life and focused on strengthening biodiversity. Only a flourishing nature gives rich and creamy milk. And you can taste that in our delicious Dutch cheeses, full of flavour.

Through our way of working, doing business in harmony with nature, nature and dairy farming can reinforce each other and we, as a family-owned cheese factory, can continue to make the tastiest organic cheese, generation after generation. Full of Life and full of taste!

Signed by nature.

Soil

Both well-developed nature and sustainable agriculture start with a healthy soil. The earthworm is indispensable in this. Our farmers are therefore not only cow farmers, but also all worm farmers.

Meadow

Our cows graze outdoors as much as possible and dump their patties in the meadow. Such a cowpat is an absolute source of life, an oasis in the meadow, the basis for an ingenious ecosystem.

Water

Water is life! Our pastures that surround and cross our meadows play an important role in water management and biodiversity. They are swarming with insects, which in turn attract hedgehogs, ducks and meadow birds.

Field edge

We are increasingly sowing flower strips at the edges of our meadows to give insects a helping hand. Bees, but also bumblebees, are the best pollinators and indispensable for biodiverse agriculture.

Biodiversity

What does biodiversity actually mean? We are committed to allowing the species and ecosystem in and around our pastures to grow in full natural diversity. To this end, we manage meadow birds, we plough and mow less and we sow flower strips.

At Hooidammer, we distinguish three important “micro-biotopes” in which certain insects, animals and plants live together and depend on each other. These can also be found in the illustrations on our cheeses: meadow, water and field edges. In addition, the soil plays an important role in every world. Immerse yourself even deeper in our biodiverse worlds!

Biodiversity

Cheese making with tradition

From the beginning, Hooidammer has been a pioneer in finding the balance between ecology and cheese making in the Frisian landscape.

The origin of Hooidammer lies in the nature reserve of Hooidam in Friesland. In the 70s, nature organisation 'It Fryske Gea' made pastures available for organic dairy farming, which is where Hooidammer originated.

Hooidammer grew into a successful organic cheese brand and after the takeover in 2000 by the Willig family, the cheese factory was moved and established in Heerenveen. There, we produce in the traditional way, naturally matured Dutch cheese specialties that stand out for their quality, taste and origin. For all cheese and nature lovers!

Our cheeses