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Western Kansas in running for dairy processing plant
Published 11/18/2011 in Local News
By AMY BICKEL
Special to The Telegram
On the plains of western Kansas, where more than 70,000 cows are milked daily, attracting a processing plant to this region of the state is a priority for Gov. Sam Brownback.
"A cheese factory would be a powerful tool for long-term economic growth in rural Kansas," said Brownback spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag. "It is a priority. It would mean good jobs and more revenue for decades."
It is a change from 20 years ago, when the first large-scale dairy was built in Hamilton County and future development of the fledgling industry was just dreams.
These days, however, a few dozen industrial-strength dairies dot Kansas where crops like wheat and corn once grew — operations that stretch across a mile section.
Now as Brownback and his Cabinet search ways to grow the rural countryside, attracting a viable industry like a milk-processing plant to southwest Kansas has become one of their top focuses.
Already things are happening. Grant County Economic Development Director Leslie Mangels said a foreign investor is interested in building a dry milk-processing plant in the U.S. The dried milk would be used in his cheese factories in Europe.
Ulysses is in the running with Michigan and South Dakota for the 60-employee plant, she said. Consultants visited Ulysses two weeks ago. Mangels said she could learn the final decision any day.
The same investor looked at Kansas in 2004, but at that time, the state didn't have enough milk production, Mangels said.
"With the milk supply and the progressive nature of Grant County, we are prime for some kind" of facility, Mangels said, noting state officials with the Kansas Department of Agriculture and Kansas Department of Commerce have been instrumental in the process. "We're ready, we're here, we have the infrastructure."
It's just one of many possibilities that could come down the pipeline for southwest Kansas. Yet, some industry leaders say it could take even more cows to attract a large cheese processor. In addition, said Kearny County Community Development Director Ralph Goodnight, who serves on the Western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance's dairy team, it may take a processor to attract more dairies.
The alliance is a rural economic development group that serves 46 western Kansas counties.
"It is very much a chicken and egg thing," Goodnight said. "We need a few more gallons of milk out this way to make it successful for a processor."
What milk is being produced already is contracted, he said. Also, Goodnight said, with the capital it takes and the increased risk for banks, it is tougher to recruit more dairies.
The industry has taken a hit a few times in the past decade after milk prices plummeted to record lows. In Kearny County, one of the county's two dairies closed about five years ago.
Some of Kansas' dairies relocated from states like California where urban sprawl has affected the industry, Goodnight said. Kansas also is centrally located, has a better climate, adequate water resources, abundant feed supplies and plenty of room for expansion.
New dairy development, however, has come to a standstill in recent years, said Ted Boersma, who milks 8,000 head of cows at his Forget Me Not Farms dairy near Cimarron.
Boersma built his Gray County dairy in 2008 after New Mexico's dairy industry became too crowded for expansion.
His dairy is the newest in Kansas.
"The dairy climate itself has changed," he said. "We aren't seeing the mobility."
Boersma said the state is doing what it can to entice animal agriculture to the region, which has been a boon on the tax base and for employment. His dairy alone employees 65 people.
"It's just a matter of if the economics will justify it," he said, but added optimistically, "In the next three to five years, we'll see more cows."
Goodnight said his dairy team continues to work to recruit dairies. The group has a presence at two national dairy and agriculture shows each year.
Steve Irsik, who owns Royal Dairy near Ingalls and serves as one of nine governor-appointed members on the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, said what it would take to attract a processing plant is one of the group's discussion items.
He added that he considered expanding his own operation where roughly 60 employees milk 6,100 cows twice a day, but he decided against it. Part of the reason was unknown changes that could happen regarding immigration laws.
Almost all his employees are Hispanic.
"A huge, huge issue is we need a rational immigration plan," Irsik said. "That is just huge."
Learn more at www.dairyinkansas.com.
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