Dairy Farmers of America, the largest milk marketing cooperative in the United States, announced plans today to expand its Cass City, Mich., facility. The plant, constructed in 2013, currently processes up to 3 million pounds of milk into cream, condensed whole milk and condensed skim milk.
“When we made the initial investment in the Cass City plant, we were already considering its expansion,” said Greg Wickham, DFA’s chief financial officer. “The time is right for this continued investment, as Michigan’s milk supply continues to grow, but the processing capacity within the region has not kept pace. The plant’s location makes it ideal to provide both domestic and global customers with safe, high-quality dairy ingredients.”
Cooperative leaders are continuing to finalize details of the expansion and are working closely with local and state agencies on appropriate incentives.
This expansion of the 33,000-square-foot plant is consistent with DFA’s strategic plan to create supply chain efficiencies and increase commercial investments to bring increased value to the Cooperative’s farmer-owners. In addition, the plant reflects DFA’s focus on sustainability and is designed to recover and re-use water in plant clean-up operations.
Earlier this week, DFA also announced that it, along with Foremost Farms USA and Michigan Milk Producers Association, was exploring joint ownership and operation of a major cheese processing plant in the state of Michigan.
