US: PepsiCo, Theo Muller to establish New York yoghurt facility

PepsiCo has teamed up with German privately-owned dairy firm Theo Müller to open a US$206m yoghurt facility at Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park in Batvia, New York, US.

Batavia plant will open in about a year with 180 employees. The project is expected to employ 600 people within a few years, becoming Genesee County's largest employer.

The joint venture at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park in Batavia is operating under the name Muller Quaker Dairy LLC, with Quaker being a subsidiary of Westchester County-based PepsiCo.
The plant sits across the road at the agri-business park from the smaller Alpina Foods site. Both will offer Greek yogurt

New York dairy farms can provide all the milk needed by the state's fast-growing yogurt industry, which includes an under-construction Alpina Foods plant as well as a Chobani plant in Chenango County and a Fage USA plant in Fulton County.

Farmers are lobbying the state to ease some regulations that make it hard for them to increase milk production. Most dairy farms in New York and the rest of the country have fewer than 200 cows.If they grow larger than 200 in New York, they encounter regulations that require expensive compliance measures.