Organic Valley Growth

By Cahalan, Steve

CASHTON, Wis. – Butter, produce and other organic food has begun to arrive at Organic Valley’s new $17.5 million distribution center on the south edge of Cashton, which is expected to have 80 employees by September and 85 employees a year from now. The public is invited to Friday’s grand opening at the 80,000-square-foot center. Activities will include a ribbon cutting and speeches at 11 a.m., followed by a picnic lunch at noon and tours from 12:30 to 4 p.m.

“People have been hearing about this (facility) for a year-and-a- half,” said Louise Hemstead, chief operating officer of Organic Valley, which is based in La Farge, Wis. Friday’s grand opening “gives them an opportunity to go through before it’s totally full of product,” she said.

Organic Valley is the nation’s largest cooperative of organic farmers, with more than 1,100 farmers in 29 states and one Canadian province. It had $334 million in sales in 2006, and expects that to increase more than 30 percent, to about $440 million, in 2007.

The new Cashton facility will be its main distribution center, although Organic Valley will continue to have three contracted warehouse facilities in the nation’s east, west and south for regional distribution.

The Cashton distribution center will warehouse and distribute fluid milk products as well as specialty items such as eggs, produce, meat, cheese and butter.

Cashton was chosen because Organic Valley wanted a site that was close to an interstate highway, its La Farge headquarters and the co- op’s butter creamery in Chaseburg, Hemstead said. “Part of it was our commitment to the rural economy,” she said.

The distribution center is the first business to open in the village’s innovative “green” business park, where businesses will create and use renewable energy.

The new center has office space, conventional warehousing, loading dock areas and a state-of-the-art Automated Storage and Retrieval System by Westfalia Technologies of York, Pa.

The automated system uses three computerized internal cranes to put in place and retrieve pallets of food in the center’s complex of more than 8,400 refrigerated and 3,600 frozen racking locations. There are 11 levels of racks; that part of the center is about 100 feet high.

Organic Valley says the automated system allows for space savings, improved employee working conditions and customer service, less required refrigeration and electricity usage, fewer spare parts resulting in less waste, cranes that regenerate power as operated, and improved shipping flexibility

Wieser Brothers General Contractor of LA Crescent, Minn., built the facility using environmentally friendly building practices such as using fly ash in the cement, recycled cotton from blue jeans for insulation in the walls, recycled steel throughout the building, a white roof to reflect the sun’s heat and decrease energy costs, and automatic faucets that recharge their batteries with the flow of water.

With Organic Valley’s sales continuing to grow rapidly, Hemstead said, the distribution center’s refrigerated space probably will reach capacity in five years, and its freezer space probably will be full in 10 to 12 years. “We expect an expansion (of the center) down the road,” she said.

Organic Valley has plenty of room to expand. The new center and its parking area occupy less than eight acres of the 40 acres it owns in the Cashion Greens Business Park.

At the center’s groundbreaking ceremony in May 2006, Organic Valley said there’s enough room for a milk processing plant, in case the co-op decides to build one. A milk plant could provide up to 200 jobs. Organic Valley now contracts for milk processing.

Hemstead said last week that a milk processing plant still is a possibility, but no decision has been made.

Copyright La Crosse Tribune Jul 22, 2007

(c) 2007 La Crosse Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.