My area of wi, too.

I go to Amish dairies now, and sometimes the non-Amish side of the road cheese shops attached to smaller farms. it’s not cheaper, but it’s not a large-scale farm, at least, and the money stays more local.

Actually the piggly wiggly here in town has some of the best cheese and meat prices, despite being 2-4x more expensive for literally everything else. (Chicken legs and quarters for 0.35/lb is normal, bulk bacon which is mostly fat (great for cooking) is $0.50/lb, cheese isn’t outright cheap but less than other places). They seem to have worked out some sort of contract with a local dairy; that brand is nowhere else around.