New milk concentration plant will benefit dairy producers in Western Canada

Jun 26, 2024

Alberta's Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit program is helping to build the first state-of-the-art milk concentration plant in Canada.

Under the program, DIW Buildings & Land Corporation has qualified for conditional approval for a tax credit of about $7.6 million.

DIW Buildings & Land Corporation (Dairy Innovation West) is a collaboration between Alberta Milk, Dairy Farmers of Manitoba, SaskMilk, and the BC Dairy Association.

When the company's $73.7-million plant opens in Blackfalds, Alberta opens in 2025, it will transform raw milk into a new concentrated form that is more efficient to transport for further processing.

The new plant will create 185 permanent and temporary jobs and is expected to source up to 300 million litres of milk from Western Canadian producers each year.

Alberta's Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, RJ Sigurdson, says Alberta is thrilled to be home to the first high-tech milk concentration facility in the country.

"This landmark project shows how our Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit program is making our province a hot spot for major investments in food and agri-processing. Having this new facility here will create jobs and help our dairy producers save money they would spend transporting milk as far away as Manitoba for processing."

The new DIW facility will use an ultrafiltration process to remove more than half the water content from unpasteurized raw milk.

Every four truckloads of raw milk will be concentrated into as little as one truckload of raw milk components that will be shipped to other value-added processors to make products like cheese, butter, ice cream and yogurt.

The end result will see fewer milk transport trucks on the road, meaning the dairy industry will be on track to meet its net-zero greenhouse gas target by 2050.

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