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TL:DRFood and beverage company Chobani on Tuesday said it is investing $1.2 billion in a new production plant in Rome, New York.According to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, this is the United States' largest investment in natural food manufacturing.
The company has already broken ground on the 1.4 million square foot Oneida County facility, which will sit on a 150-acre parcel that was previously home to Griffiss Air Force base, Chobani said. The new plant's 28 lines will be able to process 12 pounds of milk per day and produce more than one billion pounds of products per year, boosting the state's dairy industry.Chobani said it already buys more than one billion pounds of raw milk from New York dairy farms each year to supply its existing South Edmeston, New York, operation. However, after the new plant is operating at full capacity, the company expects that number to increase to six billion pounds per year.
The dairy industry represents the biggest piece of the state's $8 billion agricultural industry, the governor's office said. New York has approximately 3,000 dairy farms that produce 16.1 billion pounds of milk each year, which makes the state the fifth largest dairy state in the country."Twenty years ago, Chobani opened its first U.S. facility right here in New York, so we're thrilled with their decision to expand their roots here with a brand-new manufacturing facility in the Mohawk Valley," said New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball.
"This is tremendous news for our state and for our dairy farmers, who will be supplying milk to this state-of-the-art processing facility," Ball said. "Chobani has long been a part of New York's world-class dairy industry, and this feels like a real full-circle moment to welcome them to another region in our state."
Chobani scouted other locations for the new plant, Gov. Hochul's office said. So, in order to make a New York expansion more attractive, the state has approved financial incentives of up to $73 million via the Excelsior Jobs Program, which offers performance-based tax credits in return for job creation.
Last month, Chobani announced it would spend $500 million on an expansion at its Twin Falls, Idaho plant.
My Thoughts 💭
👏👏 big fan of chobani. Happy to see New York get this plant! Hopefully Chobani doesn’t pull out of the USA market like muller did.