Lowville Producers Dairy Co-op keeps milk contract with Kraft-Heinz

LOWVILLE- The Lowville Producers Dairy Co-Operative has sealed a deal to keep shipping milk to the Kraft plant on Utica Boulevard.

"It's huge," Co-op General Manager Brian Tabolt told us. "Probably twenty-five load of milk per-day there. That's 1.1 million pounds every day."

This news trails in the gloomy wake of Jefferson County Bulk-Milk Co-op losing their contract with the same plant only days ago.

Tabolt says the Lowville Co-op's contract with the Kraft plant will last one-year, a trend that is now common industry-wide. However, there was a time where one-year deals were not commonly the case. In fact, Tabolt says four or even five-year contracts were often agreed on and were also automatically renewed.

"That's not the way it's done anymore," he added.

156 dairy farms make up the co-op, which 95% reside in Lewis County, Tabolt said.

Listen to our featured interview with Brian Tabolt here: