Plans for a powdered milk processing plant in Fallon, Nevada, that would create 44 full-time jobs and hundreds of indirect jobs have moved a giant step closer to reality.

Quail Hollow LLC, a subsidiary of Dairy Farmers of America, closed an agreement with the city of Fallon to buy 31.5 acres. Construction of the $70-million facility is tentatively scheduled to begin in May and be completed by the summer of 2013, Fallon’s Lahontan Valley News reported.

Eric Grimes, executive director of the Churchill Economic Development Authority, said the plant would have a “massive impact on the county and the region.”

“Just the size of the dairy herds is going to have to double,” he said. “The economic impact of that alone is $25 million.”

Kansas City, Missouri-based Dairy Farmers of America is a farmer-owned cooperative focused on securing markets. It owns more than two dozen dairy-products plants.

Glenn Wallace, chief operating officer for Dairy Farms of America’s ingredients division, said 2 million pounds of milk will be processed a day into whole milk powder for worldwide distribution. The facility will operate around the clock seven days a week.  PD

—From AP newswire