New Dairy Facility for Littlefield Texas
Note: Eric Turpen is an Associate Broker with Clift Land Brokers. He manages our Littlefield, TX branch office and is currently serving as the Mayor of Littlefield. Eric was instrumental in bringing the new Select Milk Producers facility to his community.
LITTLEFIELD – Select Milk Producers will eventually bring about 150 jobs to this economically-recovering Lamb County town, company representatives said Friday morning.
The Artesia, New Mexico-based dairy foods company has invested $250 million to upgrade and expand the facility just east of town that until January housed the American Cotton Growers denim mill. It’s aiming at a late-summer 2018 opening.
Festive vibes accompanied post-rain chilly temperatures at a conference in front of the building.
“They’ll be a lot of opportunities for a lot of folks in the community. We’re just thrilled to be here,” said Brad Bouma, company chairman and a Plainview dairyman.
The company will process about 4 million pounds of milk — 80 truckloads worth — each day. Staff will convert that raw product into milk powder, butter and certain other dairy products.
But before that, there’s a plant to build. Now in the engineering and design stages, those blueprints include plans for both remodeling existing structures and expanding them. Construction of a 100,000 square feet building-extension and a wastewater treatment system are both on the to-do list.
“It’s a significant undertaking. That’s why it takes a while,” said project manager Mark Boytim. “We’re not just gonna clean this one up — we’re gonna add to it.”
Boytim works for Select Services, a subsidiary. In a system he described as “closed cycle,” the treatment center will create clean water to irrigate crops, which will feed cows.
He added the construction process will employ about 250 people, helping the local economy directly through job creation and indirectly through consumer spending.
“The benefit to the community is they’re gonna spend that paycheck, or the largest part of it, right here in your community. It’s gonna be a big boom.”
Mayor Eric Turpen recalled how Littlefield suffered when its denim mill closed 10 months ago. With 340 residents suddenly out of work, Lamb County’s unemployment rate doubled from 4.5 percent to 9.1 percent within a month. Now, Select Milk Prodcuers’ announcement arrived as a relief.
“We couldn’t be more excited to have Select Milk Producers invest in our community like this,” he said. “Not only will Select’s project create many high-paying job opportunities, but the positive impact on our local school and tax bases is expected to be tremendous.”
Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller took the podium to congratulate the partnership. As the state’s highest-ranking farm representative, he pointed out the dairy industry’s economical contributions.
“We are a big milk-producing state, and we’re so glad to be here,” he said.