The residents of Ravenna, Nebraska, would like to see another dairy facility built in the area after Leprino Foods, a cheese factory, shuttered its doors last November.
The Ravenna Economic Development Corporation is trying to create jobs so that people will not have to move away, Tiffany Crouse, the agency’s director was quoted in a1011-TV report. Formerly, the food company employed about 170 workers.Most of the locally produced milk was being shipped out of state, not enough to keep the cheese manufacturer in business.
“’That was kind of the problem,’” Wolfden Dairy owner Steve Wolfe was quoted in the report, “’the rest of the milk … was getting shipped quite a distance out of Colorado and Kansas to fill that (Colorado) plant."
While it costs more to send milk to processors elsewhere – the milk is sold and marketed through Dairy Farmers of America – better prices there have been offsetting the loss.
Still, Buffalo County Economic Development officials say they hope to get a dairy operation back in Ravenna to support area farmers. PD
—Summarized by PD staff from cited source
