News

Dairy co-ops agree to merger

Two regional dairy cooperatives have announced plans to merge.

The deal between Illinois-based Prairie Farms Dairy and Iowa-based Swiss Valley Farms still has to be approved by each co-op’s memberships.  The combined companies would have more than one thousand producer-members.

Swiss Valley Farms, headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, has five cheese and whey powder plants in Luana, Iowa, Shullsburg and Mindoro, Wisconsin, and Rochester and Faribault, Minnesota.  Prairie Farms Dairy, based in Carlinville, Illinois, has 35 manufacturing plants distributing dairy products to about one-third of the U.S.

The combined company will operate under the name Prairie Farms Dairy.  The deal is expected to close in mid-2017.