06/04/07 Milk processing plant ground breaking

Ground will be broken in Burley today for a milk processing plant. NELSON "This will be the first phase of probably three or four phase milk plant This first phase will do non fat dry milk." Karl Nelson is general manager of High Desert Milk, a co-op of six Idaho dairy farm families. He says 2.2 million pounds of milk per day will come into the high-tech computerized plant which should be operational by mid-April next year. The co-op's six dairy families milk 22 thousand cows, farm 30 thousand acres in Cassia and Twin Falls counties. NELSON "TC Jacoby and Company, they're another three generation father-son team that broker powdered milk, fluid milk, organic milk, butter all over the United States and some foreign countries and they will market the majority of the milk out of the plant." High Desert Milk is part of a billion dollar dairy industry ranked fourth nationally in milk production, third in cheese production. The state's dairy industry accounted for 428 million dollars in personal income in south central Idaho. More to the story tomorrow. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott