AURELIUS — Work could begin soon on a new milk-processing plant that will employ more than 50 people initially and could attract other new businesses to Cayuga County. A group of 26 dairy farmers in Cayuga, Onondaga, Tompkins, and Wayne counties formed a company, Cayuga Milk Ingredients, to build and run the planned plant. The […]
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AURELIUS — Work could begin soon on a new milk-processing plant that will employ more than 50 people initially and could attract other new businesses to Cayuga County.
A group of 26 dairy farmers in Cayuga, Onondaga, Tompkins, and Wayne counties formed a company, Cayuga Milk Ingredients, to build and run the planned plant. The $87 million project will transform the farmers’ raw milk into products like milk protein isolates and powders.
Those powders and isolates are subsequently used in production of items like cheese, yogurt, and nutritional products.
Work on the plant could begin as soon as September, Cayuga Milk Ingredients CEO Kevin Ellis says.
The goal is for the facility to be up and running by January 2014. The Cayuga Economic Development Agency is working on an incentive plan for the project and the plant was included in the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council’s strategic plan for the area last year.
The milk-processing plant received $4 million as part of that plan, according to the state. Cayuga Milk Ingredients is finalizing additional financing now, Ellis says.
The facility will be built on a 125-acre industrial site in Aurelius, says Terence Masterson, executive director at the Cayuga Economic Development Agency. The plant will occupy about 35 acres.
The hope, Masterson says, is that other dairy-related businesses and processors will eventually set up shop near the site to take advantage of the milk produced by the farmers and the new products the plant will create.
“I think it’s huge,” Masterson says of the plant’s potential impact. “These are high-value jobs. It’s an entire new industry for the
county.”
The 108,000-square-foot plant will initially employ 52 people and have an estimated economic impact of more than $220 million in its first year, Ellis says.
The dairy farmers involved in the project were looking for a way to add value to their milk supply. The new products produced at the plant will create a new revenue stream for the farms, Ellis says.
Having a milk-processing plant in the area will also help cut transportation costs. Ellis says farmers can spend as much as 10 percent for their gross revenue annually to transport their milk to processors.
The farmers involved in the plant project currently send their milk to 43 different destinations throughout the Northeast for processing, Ellis says.
“They want to remove food miles,” he says.
In addition to creating milk powders and other products, the plant will remove water from skim milk, Ellis says. The result will allow for more efficient transportation over longer distances.
In addition to the business reasons for the plant, the farmers want to see growth in Central New York, Ellis says.
The construction project will employ about 285 people and take about 15 months, he adds.
Cayuga Milk Ingredients is in the process of finalizing the construction companies that will work on the project.