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New Michigan cheese & whey plant taking milk

The long-awaited cheese and whey plant in Michigan has started accepting milk from local farmers.

A lack of processing for the past few years has meant milk was shipped out of Michigan and, at times, the added transportation costs led to farmers in the state to receive the lowest milk price in the country.

West Michigan dairy farmer Kent Folkema tells Brownfield the WMC plant will be able to process a huge amount of milk and he’s thankful for the impact it can make on future generations.

“And less transportation costs!  I think the first thing we’re going to look for is little better milk checks when it comes to this and it’s not just for a year or two.  This is a ‘for sure’ sale for the future.”

The $470 million facility in St. Johns is processing one million pounds of milk per day and over the next eight months will increase capacity up to eight million pounds.

The plant is expected to process nearly three billion pounds of milk into more than 300 million pounds of block cheese and 20 million pounds of value-added whey protein powder annually.

MWC is a joint venture between Glanbia Nutritionals, Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. (DFA), and Select Milk Producers Inc.

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