Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) will open a whole milk powder plant in Fallon, Nev. Construction on the facility is to begin in May. The plant’s completion is scheduled for summer 2013.
At full capacity, the plant will process 2 million pounds of milk per day and produce about 250,000 pounds of whole milk powder daily (90 million pounds annually).
“It gives us a secure home for our milk that we’ve not really had for a long time,” said Pete Olsen, a Fallon dairyman and a DFA director and member of its Western Council.
The nearest home for north Nevada milk is the Model Dairy bottling plant in Reno, and much of the milk produced in the Fallon area is trucked to California, he said.
The 22 dairies in the Fallon area produce about 1.25 million pounds of milk a day. The new plant will require another million pounds or so. Existing producers have indicated they will expand their operations to produce about 20 percent to 25 percent of that increase, but new producers will be needed to meet the full demand, he said.
DFA’s plan is to have a dedicated milk supply for the plant. That will benefit Nevada producers and could also benefit California producers in the first few years while Nevada is building its herds.
The Fallon plant will be the first of its kind in the Western hemisphere and is another step in DFA’s plan to strengthen its position in world markets, Olsen said. Whole milk powder is the milk powder of choice in international markets, he said.
Source: Capital Press