DFA’s said its new facility - scheduled for completion in summer 2012 after work starts in Q2 2012 - would 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.
DFA said the new plant formed part of the cooperative's strategy of increasing commercial investments to bring increased value to member owners, enabling it to enter a new market segment and "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,” said Glenn Wallace, COO 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," he added.