Dairy Farmers of America is shuttering its long-running processing plant in St. Albans, delivering another major blow to the state’s dairy capital.
Roughly 80 people will lose their jobs once the plant ceases operations on Aug. 17, the company announced Wednesday.
The plant, which turns milk into cream and condensed and powder products, has been a part of Franklin County’s dairy industry for decades. Dairy Farmers of America, a farmer-owned cooperative, acquired it through a merger with the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery in 2019.
The company said in a statement that it is “idling” the plant but gave no indication that it intends to reopen in the future. The adjoining St. Albans Creamery & Supply is also closing, the statement said.
“This was not a decision made lightly,” the statement read. The company said the closure “reflects broader operational and network changes needed to best serve our farmer-owners and customers.”
The plant handles a significant portion of milk that is produced in Vermont. Dairy Farmers of America said it will continue to process that milk at plants located in other states.
Economic development officials described the news as a surprise on Wednesday, including Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets Anson Tebbetts.
But the announcement was not as startling to Curtis Clough, who represents a majority of the plant’s employees through Teamsters Local 597.
Clough said workers have been concerned about the plant’s future in recent months, as they saw other major milk processors and customers of the St. Albans plant close up shop. This summer, a German company is walking away from Franklin Foods in Enosburg Falls. The Hood-owned plant in Barre closed this spring, and the Perrigo infant formula plant in Georgia is due to close by the end of June.
“I’ve been aware that the milk market was in free fall in Vermont since the spring,” Clough said.
Franklin County, home to the most dairy farms in the state, has now lost roughly 600 jobs at dairy-related plants over the past year.
“We’ve had years of good news, and now we’re riding a wave of bad news, for sure,” said Tim Smith, executive director of the Franklin County Industrial Development Corporation.
The county hasn’t seen job losses this severe since Energizer closed its battery plant in 2013, Smith said. That plant employed about 170 people.
Workers at the Dairy Farmers of America plant went on strike last fall over disputes over working conditions and wages. Earlier this year, city officials in St. Albans declared the plant a public health hazard because of a persistent sulfur smell emanating from the property, the St. Albans Messenger reported.
It’s not clear whether either conflict factored into the company’s decision to shut down operations. Clough, of the Teamsters, said representatives were planning to meet with company officials in a couple weeks.
Dairy Farmers of America had recently made multi-million dollar investments in the St. Albans plant, Tebbetts said. The recent upgrades could make the plant more appealing to another operator, he said.
Local and state officials say they have been trying to find new occupants for the other plants that are in various stages of closure.
Smith said Franklin County, which has just over 50,000 total residents, likely can’t absorb 600 job losses in such a short period.
Many of the laid-off employees, he said, will have a hard time finding new work.
Original Report At: https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2026-06-17/dairy-farmers-america-plant-st-albans-close-august
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