Walmart announced it plans to open its third owned-and-operated milk processing facility in central Texas in 2026.
The new facility, to be located in Robinson, Texas, between Dallas and Austin, will create nearly 400 new jobs in the community.
The facility will process and bottle a variety of milk options, including gallon, half-gallon, whole, 2%, 1%, skim and 1% chocolate milk for Walmart’s Great Value and Sam’s Club’s Member’s Mark brands. The products from the facility will serve more than 750 Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs throughout the South including Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and parts of Arkansas and Mississippi.
Of those states, Texas is the only one to show an increase in milk production in the past year. Based on the USDA’s February 2023 Milk Production report, Texas produced 16.5 billion pounds of milk in 2023, up 34 million pounds (0.2%) from 2022.
Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi produced a combined 865 million pounds of milk in 2023, down 10.1% from the previous year.
In Progressive Dairy’s 2024 State of Dairy coverage, to be released on March 12, Darren Turley, executive director, Texas Association of Dairymen, said dairy farmers in the state will look to add cows and/or production this year if the current production control programs come to an end.
Demand for milk in the region is growing, as two other milk processing facilities are set to open in the near future. These include Panhandle Products in Dumas, Texas, and Leprino Foods in Lubbock, Texas.
The new Walmart facility is part of the company’s efforts to provide transparency about where its products are sourced and make its supply chain more resilient.
“We’re excited to be able to provide Texas and its surrounding states with high-quality milk sourced primarily from Texas dairy farmers,” said Bruce Heckman, vice president of manufacturing at Walmart. “This new facility continues our commitment to building a more resilient and transparent supply chain and ensuring our customers’ needs are met for this everyday staple.”
Walmart opened its first milk processing facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 2018, and its second facility in Valdosta, Georgia, is expected to open in 2025.
Read: Walmart to build $350 million fluid milk processing plant in Georgia
