Small cheesemakers invest in a stinky science

Greensboro, Vermont

THERE is no sign announcing that you have arrived at Jasper Hill Farm, a creamery in the Northeast Kingdom, as Vermonters call that end of their state, but you cannot miss it. The main barn is painted midnight blue with a giant cheese moon and cows floating happily in space. Blasted into the hillside is a concrete bunker with seven cheese caves radiating from a central core.

There is one other surprising detail: a modern two-room laboratory filled with microbiology equipment and staffed with scientists.