On April 11, representatives from Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. (DFA) joined officials from the city of Fallon, state of Nevada and Churchill Economic Development Authority to mark the official groundbreaking for a state-of-the-art dairy ingredient manufacturing facility in Fallon, Nevada. Nearly 150 members of the Fallon community and cooperative members, including DFA's Western Area Council, participated in the ceremony.
“As a milk marketing cooperative focused on our dairy farmer owners, we have a responsibility and an obligation to explore new options to bring our members greater returns,” said Mark Korsmeyer, executive vice president of DFA and president of DFA’s Global Dairy Products Group.
“Through this new plant, we are able to continue our work to build value for American dairy farmers while providing high quality and safe food to global consumers.”
Located on a 31.5-acre parcel in Phase II of Fallon’s New River Business Park, DFA’s greenfield dairy manufacturing facility will be the first of its kind in the industry, with the ability to produce dried dairy ingredients, such as whole milk powder, on a demand basis.
The plant will be equipped to process 2 million pounds of raw milk daily and, at full capacity, will produce approximately 250,000 pounds of dried dairy ingredients daily (90 million pounds annually) for domestic and global customers.
The investment, approved by DFA’s dairy farmer board of directors, is part of the cooperative’s strategic initiative to increase commercial investments in an effort to bring increased value to the cooperative’s member owners.
The project provides DFA the opportunity to enter a new market segment and to continue to leverage dairy farmer equity into profitable investments.
“As a result of the combined efforts of DFA, the state, city and county that brought the dairy plant to Fallon, the local dairy industry and the businesses that support dairy farmers have a bright future,” Glenn Wallace, chief operating officer for DFA’s ingredients division.
“This plant provides opportunity not only for the existing dairy farms in this area, but also makes room for new dairy operations to help grow the local dairy industry.”
In addition to the creation of at least 40 full time positions at the facility, increased employment opportunities are expected to occur in the community, on member farms and in agriculture support industries.
“It is gratifying to see the city of Fallon’s efforts to build a business-friendly environment pay off,” said Fallon Mayor Ken Tedford Jr.
“We welcome Dairy Farmers of America to Fallon and look forward to the many construction and dairy industry jobs that will build a stronger community and support many Fallon families for years to come.”
Construction will begin in the second quarter of 2012 and is scheduled for completion next summer. PD
—From Dairy Farmers of America news release
