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Darigold’s new $600 million facility is due to open in Pasco, Washington, in 2024 as part of the cooperative's plan to expand and modernise. The company hosted a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of its future Pasco production facility, which is expected to process 8 million pounds of milk per day when fully operational, sourced from more than 100 dairy farms in the surrounding communities. “The Pasco project represents our third major capital investment in as many years, the largest investment in our co-op's 104-year history, and a significant step in an ongoing strategy to expand and modernise Darigold,” said Joe Coote, the cooperative's chief executive officer. When fully operational, the facility will have the capacity to produce 175 million pounds of butter per year and nearly 280 million pounds of powdered milk products annually, including products that meet the highest industry specifications for use in the most sensitive applications, such as infant formula. “This region is ideally suited to producing high-quality, nutritious dairy and our proximity to global shipping infrastructure makes it more efficient to access international markets,” added Allan Huttema, chairman of Darigold’s board of directors and operator of Almar Dairy in Parma, Idaho. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, demand for dairy grew at 1.6% in 2021 in the US, while demand for dairy exports rose by 19%. Darigold says that very few countries have excess production capacity, providing US dairy producers with the opportunity to benefit from growing global demand. In addition to adding capacity to Darigold's overall production capability, the new Pasco facility will incorporate a variety of innovative technologies and conservation strategies that combined, could mitigate more than 300,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year.