GRASSLAND, DIOCESE TEAM UP FOR MILK PROJECT
Friday, March 26th, 2010 -- 11:26 AM
An area dairy has reached a unique partnership with the Catholic Diocese of La Crosse.The Diocese? ?Project Milk? has entered into a contractual agreement with Grassland Dairy of Greenwood to process and ship dried milk to an orphanage in Lurin, Peru.
Trevor Wuethrich, Vice President of Marketing for Grassland, says the partnership happened by accident. Project Milk is coordinated by Dan Kitzhaber, a Greenwood native. They had contracted with Saputo Cheese?s Fond du Lac plant, but it closed last year.
"He called in January and asked if we made milk powder, and I said yes. We started about two years ago," he explains. "Every year, they send a load or two to Peru."
This is a new venture for Grassland. Wuethrich says they have limited experience in exporting. This shipment contained about 40,000 pounds of dried milk.
Basically, the milk comes in from the farm, and then Grassland takes out the fat, and water, leaving them with a condensed skim milk. That product is sold to local cheese makers. But, when demand is low, Grassland dries it. The dried powder is ideal for humanitarian purposes.
"You can ship three times as much milk powder than liquid milk. You can store powdered milk...longer than any liquid product," Wuethrich explains.
Milk is not a common staple of the Peruvian diet, but it is a great source of calcium and vitamin D.
This sale isn?t huge, accounting for only about a day?s worth of milk from about 60 farmers, but it is unique, and could open the door to similar projects, Wuethrich says.
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