Lactalis USA will invest $75 million to upgrade equipment at their Walton and Buffalo plants in an effort to modernize their dairy processing facilities.

“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,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a press release Monday. “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 plant in Walton, in Delaware County, which produces sour cream and cottage cheese, will get a $15 million investment that will go toward automation of production lines. Some of the planned improvements include new fillers, HEPA air filtration, advanced lab equipment, new roofing and boiler upgrades. It will result in a 30% increase in output and more than 20 new jobs. 

“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 is essential to strengthening our cottage cheese business in a rapidly growing category,” said Esteve Torrens, chief executive officer of Lactalis USA.  

A $60 million expansion of the Buffalo facility will include six 50,000-pound vats, an advanced cheese belt, separators, silos and a robotic pelletizer. The remodel will relocate the cheese lab and increase production of mozzarella and provolone cheese by 37 million pounds annually. 

“The investments in Lactalis’ existing facilities in Buffalo and Walton is a win-win, retaining hundreds of jobs and adding new jobs, as well as ensuring New York state remains a leader in the dairy industry for years to come. This expansion is great news for the dairy farmers that supply fresh, local milk for the Lactalis cheese manufacturing facilities, which have a long-standing tradition of producing some of New York’s highest quality dairy products,” said Richard Ball, New York state agriculture commissioner.  

New York is the fifth most dairy producing state with 16.1 billion pounds of milk produced each year, and the state ranks first in the production of yogurt, cottage cheese and sour cream. The Lactalis plants process more than 800 million pounds of milk per year from 236 dairy farmers.