The last cheese plant in North Dakota is closing, according to state news reports Wednesday.
Saturday will be the last day that Dakota Country Cheese in Mandan, N.D., will pick up milk, and the last cheese will be made on Monday, June 28.
Dwindling supplies of milk have made it difficult for the cheese plant to operate, and the cheese market also has gone in the tank, said owner and manager Virgil Johnson.
About two dozen employees work at the 35-year-old plant.
The closure will leave 32 farmers looking for a new market for their milk, according to the Associated Press.
A group of investors who had considered purchasing the facility have also given up their plans, the Bismarck Tribune reported Wednesday.
“The volume that seemed to be readily available for that plant was troublesome,” said Pat Downs, a cooperative specialist who had been assisting a group of dairy producers studying the feasibility of purchasing the plant.
Milk production in the area has been going down, and the cheese plant no longer looked like a good investment, the Tribune noted.
Even so, it’s not all gloom and doom, said Gary Hoffman, executive director of the North Dakota Dairy Coalition.
“While that was the only private cheese plant, major co-ops are still looking for milk,” Hoffman said.
Both AMPI’s Cass Clay division and Dairy Farmers of America operate cheese plants just over the border in South Dakota, said Hoffman. “We still have milk flowing into those cheese plants,” he said.
Efforts are ongoing to expand dairy production in North Dakota, Hoffman said. “We’re still interested in people moving here to dairy,” he said. “We’re working with several folks from Canada, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.”
A Canadian family built a 1,500-cow dairy in North Dakota about a year ago, he added. Another family from Canada recently purchased an 800-cow facility.
“There’s plenty of room to grow here,” Hoffman said. “We have advantages over other areas, including abundant, low-cost feed and cheap land.”
Catherine Merlo is Western editor for Dairy Today. You can reach her at cmerlo@farmjournal.com.
