U.S. Dairy Construction Brings Substantial Plant Investments

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Capital construction at U.S. dairies accounts for around $4.7 billion worth of current investments and another $9.2 billion dollars' worth lined up for as future date.

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A Consumer-Driven Sector

While U.S. consumption of dairy products has been at historic highs for several years, actual growth in dairy consumption over the past five or years has been relatively stable. What is drastically shifting, however, are the types of dairy products being consumed, and this is driving multiple construction projects at new and existing U.S. dairy facilities.

Industrial Info Resources data show nearly $14 billion worth of dairy-related projects underway or on the planning table across the U.S., with current construction largely falling in line with U.S. trends seen over the past few years showing a drop in traditional fluid milk consumption and an increase in dairy products such as yogurt and cottage cheese, along with a rise in other higher-protein dairy offerings.

Current Construction - Cultured Products

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) figures for U.S. dairy consumption for 2025 remain unpublished, 2024 showed an uptick in cottage cheese consumption to 2.4 pounds per person, the highest since 2009. Cottage cheese and sour cream are the primary targets of one of the largest construction dairy construction projects underway in the U.S., from one of the country's leading dairy labels, Dairy Brands.

Daisy's substantial grassroot plant in Boone, Iowa, will include an 80,000-square-foot wastewater treatment facility along with all the necessary equipment such as homogenizers, mixers and pasteurization systems, and construction, which kicked off in 2025, is expected to last nearly three years in total. Subscribers can access details of the project, including construction timelines, key contact details, and equipment and service needs, by clicking here.

Similar products, including cottage cheese, Greek yogurt and sour cream are very much the driver that launched an expansion of Upstate Niagara Cooperative's dairy in West Seneca, New York, that represents substantial growth in the facility's square footage for both new production and storage space.

Enhanced Dairy Beverages

Two other existing projects show a shift toward high-protein and probiotic dairy offerings. Coca-Cola-owned Fairlife, whose ultra-filtered milk contains substantially more protein and boasts a lower sugar content than traditional milk, is adding production lines to a Michigan plant. While Japan-headquartered Yakult has seen sales of its sweetened probiotic milk beverage level off in recent years, this follows explosive growth since its introduction into the U.S. in 2007, which brought multiple years of double- or even triple-digit demand growth. With its sole U.S. manufacturing plant in California operating at full capacity, Yakult is both substantially growing U.S. production and facilitating distribution in the eastern U.S. with a new plant near Atlanta, Georgia.

While the Daisy, Yakult, Fairlife and Upstate Niagara projects represent some of the biggest construction presently underway in the U.S. dairy sector, Industrial Info Resources is tracking another $2.2 billion worth of U.S. capital dairy projects also underway, covering a range of products from dried milk to cheese to ice cream.

On the Books

However, the real value of Industrial Info Resources' data comes through in its information on more than $9 billion in planned capital dairy projects lined up across the country for the future. While not all of these projects will move forward as planned, detailed on information on more than 380 future capital projects, along with another $112.75 million in planned maintenance spending, provides substantial opportunities to equipment and service providers, engineering and architecture firms, financial institutions and several other sectors.

Future construction projects suggest similar trends a continuation of current trends within the sector. A blockbuster yogurt-production project is on the books for Chobani in upstate New York. Grassroot construction represents more than $1 billion in initial investment potentially kicking off next year, with two substantial expansions already being considered for future dates. Chobani is targeting is whopping 1 billion pounds per year of yogurt products annually from the plant at final buildout. In addition to these substantial plans, Chobani also is targeting another $1 billion+ new plant at a brownfield site in Pennsylvania that could drastically the state's milk sector.

Another substantial dairy-related project on the books comes in the form of Mead Johnson Nutrition's more than 600,000 square feet of planned building additions to grow production at its infant formula plant in Zeeland, Michigan. Mead Johnson's flagship formula is its Enfamil line, which it manufactures along with other offerings for targeting allergy issues and differing digestive needs.

Industrial Info's Food & Beverage coverage also includes nearly 3,000 capital and maintenance projects on the books for dairy facilities outside of the U.S.

Key Takeaways

• Industrial Info Resources data show more than $13.9 billion worth of dairy projects underway or on the books across the U.S.
• New York state represents a prime destination for U.S. dairy construction, accounting for more than $3 billion worth of projects.
• While traditional fluid milk consumption has declined in the U.S., this has been offset by higher consumption of products such as cottage cheese and yogurt.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).