First District dairy co-op seeks $10 million from state to fix Litchfield wastewater system to avoid halving production

Summary

First District Association told the House Ag Finance and Policy Committee that a pretreatment/digester project is needed to bring its Litchfield plant into compliance with wastewater limits; the cooperative requested $10 million in state help and warned that production could be cut by roughly half if the problem is not resolved.

First District Association, a farmer-owned dairy cooperative, urged the Minnesota House Ag Finance and Policy Committee to consider a $10 million state contribution to a pretreatment and digester project in Litchfield that the co-op says is needed to meet state wastewater compliance and avoid a large-scale reduction in milk processing.

For the record, Bob Hoffman, president and CEO of First District Association, said, “We have approximately 570 family farm owners of the cooperative, that cover across 46 counties, that produce roughly about 8,500,000 pounds of milk a day.” He told the committee that the cooperative is the state’s largest dairy processor and that its Litchfield plant produces about 800,000 pounds of cheese a day and roughly 100,000,000 pounds of whey protein and lactose powder annually, with more than…

First District dairy co-op seeks $10 million from state to fix Litchfield wastewater system to avoid halving production

Summary

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