Yet again I’m hyperventilating about the rising price of cheese. I handed over $50 for a piece last week, and it wasn’t that big. Who can spend this kind of money? I’m not blaming cheesemakers. I’m not blaming retailers. I’m not blaming anybody. But I wanted to understand why some cheeses cost 30 to 50 percent more than they did a year ago.

After a wholesale price increase takes effect on October 1, Cowgirl Creamery’s popular Red Hawk will likely retail for $48 to $50 a pound (based on typical store markups). The wholesale price for this popular cheese has jumped almost 50 percent since February 2021, and other Cowgirl Creamery cheeses are on the same trajectory. The company cites increased costs for milk, cream, packaging and labor.

The company’s marketing director declined my request to discuss the situation in more detail, but Mateo Kehler of Vermont’s Jasper Hill Farm was happy to do so. Jasper Hill raised prices significantly at the start of this year, and Kehler is contemplating another jump in the fourth quarter. Here are a few of the recent cost increases his company has experienced:

• Packaging (corrugated boxes, labels, the breathable paper that wraps the cheeses) has gone up 30 percent.

• The starting wage at Jasper Hill has gone up 33-1/3 percent, from $15 to $20 an hour. “If you advertise a starting wage of $15 an hour, you get zero applicants,” says Kehler. “Which means we’ve had to raise wages across the board because people who have been here five years can’t make less than people who are starting.”

• Grain for animal feed is $650 a ton, up from around $400 a ton pre-pandemic.

• Fuel expenses have doubled since last year.

• The price of commodity milk is at a historic high “and we pay substantially more than the commodity price,” says Kehler.

• Commercial fertilizer was $200 a ton two years ago. Now it’s $1,200 a ton. “That’s the war in Ukraine,” says Kehler.

“If we don’t raise prices, we’re going to lose money,” says Kehler. “And that’s not an option. If we don’t make money, we don’t have a parent corporation that can fill in the blanks.”

We all want our dairy farmers, cheesemakers, cheese distributors and retailers to survive these crazy times. But I’m concerned about how consumers will process the price hikes. Will shoppers cut back on artisan cheese purchases, or will they backslide to lower quality? Or maybe they’ll just grit their teeth and bear it.

Both Kehler and Ruth Flore, the president of Grafton Village Cheese, whom I also spoke to about pricing, believe consumers will just buy less of the good stuff, not lesser quality. “Would you backslide to commodity coffee?” asks Kehler.

Both agree that, even if their costs decline, retail cheese prices are unlikely to go down. That never happens. So what can you do to maximize your cheese budget? A few thoughts:

• Don’t waste a crumb. Buy smaller amounts more often so you don’t find yourself cutting out mold or scraping dry surfaces.

• Do the math. Cheeses sold by the piece can cost more per pound than you may realize.

• Don’t toss scraps. Grate them for gratins or grilled cheese sandwiches. Or make fromage fort, a cheese spread that welcomes all those too-small-to-serve bits.

• If you’re wavering, choose a hard cheese over a soft one. The firm cheese will last longer, and you’re not paying for water. Being concentrated, an aged cheese will also likely be more satiating, ounce for ounce.

• It pains me to say this, but given the strength of the dollar versus the Euro, imports may be where the best values are.

• Do think about the pleasure you’re getting for the price. Personally, I’d rather have a four-dollar piece of fine cheese than a four-dollar pastry.