KENNEWICK — The massive dairy processing plant taking shape off Highway 395 in Pasco is about 60 percent finished and on track to begin operating by the middle of next year.
Darigold Inc. broke ground on the $600 million, state-of-the-art processing plant in September 2022 in the Port of Pasco’s Reimann Industrial Center.
Two years later, company officials are trumpeting the transition from construction to operations, even if the actual date remains deliberately vague.
“Soon, you will see activity shift from construction trucks to milk tankers!” Allan Huttema, president and CEO of Darigold, wrote in a project update in August.
Darigold is the Seattle-based processing and marketing arm of the Northwest Dairy Association, a cooperative representing 300 family-owned dairies in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.
It sells milk, creams, cheeses, butter, yogurt, ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese and other dairy products domestically and in foreign markets, notably Mexico and China.
Milk powder and butter: Darigold will turn milk into two distinct products: Milk powder and butter.
It will produce 280 million pounds of high quality milk powders, which is used in infant formula, protein drinks, baked goods.
And it will churn out 175 million pounds of butter, packaged for both commercial and residential customers.
Darigold operates six processing plants in Washington, three in Idaho and one each in Montana and Oregon.
Thousands of cows: In Pasco, Darigold will convert 8 million pounds — or about 930,000 gallons — of milk every day into high quality milk powders, as well as butter.
The milk will arrive via tanker from 100 member dairies and represents the output of more than 116,000 cows. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calculates the average cow produces 8 gallons of milk each day.
Darigold initially intended to begin operating the Pasco plant in 2024. A spokesman cited the complexity of building a 500,000-square-foot facility packed with technology and next-generation processing gear for the delayed start.
Too, it faced supply chain issues and had to update designs when building codes were updated. Miron Construction is the contractor in Pasco.
Most of the building material is in hand and larger pieces of equipment, such as gas-fired evaporators, were fabricated on site.
