Select Milk Producers is Glanbia and Dairy Farmers of America (DFA)'s new partner in a joint venture to build, supply and operate a new large-scale cheese and whey production facility in Michigan.

The project was initially announced last year, with Glanbia holding 50% of the joint venture and DFA, Michigan Milk Producers Association and Foremost Farms sharing the other half of ownership.

Foremost Farms is no longer a partner in the project. "Michigan Milk Producers Association will continue to participate in the project as a strategic milk supplier to the new facility", but is no longer a shareholder in the joint venture, Glanbia added in a statement.

The partners have a strong working relationship

Glanbia, DFA and Select Milk Producers already operate the Southwest Cheese plant in Clovis, New Mexico, under a joint venture agreement similar to the one announced this Monday for the Michigan project. "The partners have a strong working relationship that has evolved over many years and a strong track record working together to successfully run large-scale cheese and whey facilities," said Glanbia Nutritional's chief executive Brian Phelan.

One-year delay

The new factory is now expected to open in the second half of 2020, instead of the second half of 2019 as originally announced. It is expected to take in 3.6m litres of milk per day.

“Michigan is ideally situated for continued milk production growth and has ideal proximity to serve not only major US markets, but also the global marketplace," said DFA's chief financial officer Greg Wickham.

Glanbia's two partners are both co-ops, with 14,000 members on nearly 8,000 farms for DFA and 99 members for Select Milk Producers.

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