Darigold has broken ground on a $600 million processing facility to be built in Pasco, Wash.
The Pasco facility is expected to be operational by early 2024. It will process 8 million pounds of milk per day from about 100 farms in surrounding communities. Equipment will include two specialized milk dryers and two packaging lines for powdered milk products, two butter churns, two bulk butter packaging lines for commercial and institutional customers, and five consumer butter packaging lines.
The milk dryers will be designed to minimize emissions of nitrogen oxide. In addition, Darigold plans to expand its on-site water treatment facility to accept wastewater from neighboring food processors. The facility will generate methane, which will be processed into natural gas for sale.
"The Pasco project represents our third major capital investment in as many years, the largest investment in our co-op's 104-year-history, and a significant step in an ongoing strategy to expand and modernize Darigold," Darigold CEO Joe Coote said in a statement.
