The Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) are coming to Fallon, bringing permanent jobs, construction work and a big boost to the local dairy industry with them.
Fallon Mayor Ken Tedford, Jr. recently signed a contract to sell a 31.5 acre parcel in the city’s New River Business Park to the 16,000 member-owned dairy cooperative based in Kansas City, MO. Construction of the $70-million milk processing facility will begin in May with a completion date planned for the summer of 2013.
The Fallon plant is expected to convert nearly 500 million pounds of milk per year into a dry milk powder product for worldwide distribution. This will greatly increase milk demand for local dairy farmers in Churchill, Lyon and Douglas counties, and will initially create 44 permanent plant operator jobs and hundreds of indirect jobs in the region. The plant will be one of only two of its kind in the world, and the first in North or South America.
The dairy plant construction will be the culmination of a lot of economic development work for the city. The city completed the New River Business Park in 2005 to help attract new businesses to the city, and stimulate local economic growth. The dairy plant will occupy a portion of the second phase of the business park.
Fallon welcomes the Dairy Farmers of America to town. And we look forward to the benefits to the Fallon economy that the new facility will bring.