Lactalis USA will invest more than $75 million to upgrade its Walton, N.Y., and Buffalo, N.Y., facilities, enabling them to expand capacity and gain efficiency.

The projects, which are in New York’s Delaware and Erie counties, include the purchase of new equipment and upgrades that will allow the dairy manufacturer to retain more than 800 full-time jobs and create more than 50 jobs. Lactalis USA has chosen to expand in New York, thanks in part to support from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Empire State Development.

“New York will continue to work with businesses in the agri-food sectors as they expand and grow to ensure good-paying jobs remain in our communities,” Hochul says. “By investing in the Lactalis USA facilities and assisting with improvements, New York is retaining hundreds of jobs and adding new jobs, as well as helping to support the region’s dairy farmers.”

The Walton plant produces Breakstone’s sour cream and cottage cheese. It will undergo a $15 million modernization, focusing on automating and expanding the cottage cheese and sour cream production lines, enhancing efficiency, capacity and sustainability. Currently, the facility has limited capacity, while market demand for nutritious, high-protein foods is increasing. The facility also relies on technology that requires maintenance, and the improvements will increase versatility for product innovation. The project will include new fillers, HEPA air filtration, lab equipment, new roofing, boiler upgrades and other improvements to the facility. The upgrades will result in a 30% boost in output and create more than 20 jobs.

The Buffalo plant produces Galbani’s ricotta, mozzarella and provolone cheese, along with whey powder that is distributed across the U.S. and abroad. The $60 million expansion includes the installation of six 50,000-lb. vats, a cheese belt, separators, silos and a robotic palletizer. Building remodeling will include relocating the cheese lab to maintain production, increasing mozzarella and provolone production by 37 million lbs. annually. Ricotta production will also be expanded, and energy-efficient technology will be added. With the addition of this expansion project, Lactalis USA has committed to investing a total of approximately $123 million in its Buffalo facilities from 2020 through the end of 2027.

In addition to creating jobs, both plants support the region’s agricultural economy by processing more than 800 million lbs. of raw milk from 236 local dairy farmers annually.

“Lactalis has two plants in New York state that are key to our growing business in the United States,” says Lactalis USA CEO Esteve Torrens. “Our Buffalo plant is home to a significant ricotta and mozzarella production under the Galbani brand. Our Walton plant continues a rich tradition, since 1882, of producing Breakstone’s sour cream, and (it) is essential to strengthening our cottage cheese business in a rapidly growing category. We are committed to supporting the communities of Buffalo and Walton as we continue to grow in those markets, and we thank Gov. Hochul and ESD for their support.”

Empire State Development is offering $750,000 in Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits for the Walton project – which is in an economically distressed community – and $550,000 in tax credits for the Buffalo project in exchange for Lactalis’ job retention and creation commitments. The projects are expected to be completed in 2027.

“The direct impact of Lactalis remaining and growing in Walton and Buffalo is hundreds of cheese manufacturing jobs, but indirectly, the plant also supports area dairy farmers by purchasing more than $180 million worth of milk each year, making the projects a win for both the manufacturing and agricultural sectors,” says Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight.

New York’s dairy industry is the largest sector of its agricultural industry. New York is home to nearly 3,000 dairy farms with 630,000 cows, producing 16.1 billion lbs. of milk. New York ranks fifth in the production of milk and is first in the nation in the production of yogurt and cottage cheese.