First District Association Celebrates 90th, Expands Capacity 30%
Source: First District Association
A leader in Minnesota’s – and the nation’s – dairy industry is celebrating its rich history and looking to its future, while boosting the state’s role on the global stage. First District Association (FDA) cooperative is marking its 90th anniversary with a major celebration August 18, as plans to expand its operations by 30 percent and modernize production processes get underway. FDA currently provides cheese and whey products to customers all over the world.
Three major construction phases due to be completed by fall 2012, including equipment replacement or expansion throughout the plant and a state-of-the-art milk-processing system, will allow FDA to enhance both efficiency and quality, two critical elements that will boost Minnesota’s ability to compete globally.
“Expansion plays an important role in securing the future success of First District Association and the entire Minnesota dairy industry,” says Clint Fall, President of FDA. “These plans will allow us to successfully market our products, satisfy customer needs, and compete in a dynamic growing global dairy industry.”
The FDA cheese plant produced 144 million pounds of cheese in 2010, or 4.54 pounds per second. The expansion will give the cooperative the ability to process 5 million pounds of milk a day – a 25- to 30-percent increase in production capabilities. FDA provides cheese to many of the most well-known fast food chains, restaurants and national grocery-store chains in the form of spreadable cheese, popular name-brand snack foods and bakery products. FDA’s whey products find their way into leading brands of chocolate, infant formula, bakery products and pharmaceuticals.
More than 1,500 FDA guests, including employees, cooperative member-owners, neighbors, regulatory officials, state inspectors, government officials and other community members have been invited to take a once-in-a-lifetime tour of the FDA plant, which on all other occasions is closed to non-employees. The event, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, August 18, will also feature a picnic lunch, live music, product displays, kids’ games and an opportunity to meet dairy princesses.
“First District Association has played a prominent role in the birth and formation of the modern dairy cooperatives in the United States,” says Mary Higgins, Vice President of Ingredient Marketing, Midwest Dairy Association. “We’re proud to celebrate the rich history of this Minnesota organization, and to experience firsthand its vision for the future.”
By focusing on quality and efficiency, FDA played a prominent role in shaping the way modern dairy cooperatives function nationwide. In 1926, on a mission to educate the public about quality sweet cream butter, the Litchfield Cooperative created the popular Land O’Lakes brand of butter. In 1974, FDA carried those same values into cheese production and currently processes about 3.85 million pounds of milk per day.
FDA continues to stress the importance of quality and efficiency in its work, although now it is done on a much larger scale. Today, FDA has approximately 620 direct member-owners, and nine member creameries with 430 patrons. Together, they will produce over 1.5 billion pounds of milk this year.
