ST JOHNS, Mich. – A new state of the art cheese and whey plant began operations late in October in St. Johns, Mich.

According to an announcement from one of the plant’s investors, Ireland based Glanbia Nutritionals, the $470 million plant began receiving milk on Oct. 20 from local farmers, marking the first day of operations for the facility and beginning the commissioning phase. Ramping up operations at the plant, called MWC, will take place over the next eight months and will see the initial one million pounds of milk per day increase to its designed capacity of eight million pounds per day.

Once fully operational, the 375,000 square foot facility built on a 120 acre lot will employ 260 people and will process over 2.9 billion pounds of milk from local farmers into more than 300 million pounds of superior quality block cheese and 20 million pounds of value-added whey protein powders each year. The project is a joint venture between Glanbia Nutritionals, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) and Select Milk Producers, Inc. Construction took two years to complete and includes a smaller plant that will produce whey protein. Proliant Dairy was the main investor in the whey operation.

“This is just an amazing opportunity for us dairy farmers in Michigan,” said Kent Folkema, a dairy farmer in Fremont, Mich. Folkema has a 1,400 head dairy herd; he’s been in the dairy business since 1987 and is active in his local cooperative. “As a dairyman, you don’t realize how much goes into building such a plant. It’s important to continue this dairy farming tradition.” Folkema’s grown son is helping him with the business.

“They’ve done a lot of things in this new processing facility,” Folkema added. “Glanbia has been phenomenal, even in the midst of this covid thing. There’s a lot of respect for the people who got this thing going.”

Before the MWC operation, farmers in the area often had to take their milk to a so-called balancing plant, where they generally got less for their milk than they would taking it to MWC. One of the big selling points of the new plant is cheese is a value added product. Folkema also said that the new situation is great because MWC is a final destination.

“This was very much needed to help farmers get a better price for their milk,” Folkema said. “DFA producers are really excited about this because of reduced transportation costs. The investment that we put into this plant, we believe it’s worthwhile.”

CEO of Glanbia Nutritionals Brian Phelan stated, “we are very pleased to reach this important milestone on our journey to deliver a new ultramodern dairy facility in Michigan for our customers. As we enter this key commissioning phase and begin production at the plant, I would like to thank the entire Glanbia Nutritionals team, and in particular the onsite team, whose expertise and focus have kept the project on track and on budget, particularly during the challenges of the last seven months. In addition, I would like to thank the state and city authorities for their continued support and of course our great partners, DFA and Select Milk Producers.”

Dennis Rodenbaugh, Executive Vice President of DFA said, “we are excited about this important milestone in the operation, which not only will play a critical role in the dairy industry in Michigan, but will bring value to our family farmer-owners here and across the country.”

And Rance Miles, CEO of Select Milk Producers said, “this partnership began two decades ago with the creation of Southwest Cheese JV by bringing dairy farmers, processors and local communities together to achieve beneficial results for all. This new facility in Michigan under the same JV partnership is a continuation of that success.”