Originally, the company was named the Producers Creamery, but it was renamed Prairie Farms Dairy. Since its beginning in 1938, the company has expanded largely through mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures with various dairy cooperatives, producers, and manufacturers.[2]
As of May 2018, Prairie Farms receives milk from over 900 producers, has 5,700 employees (683 in Greater St. Louis), operates 44 manufacturing plants and over 100 distribution facilities, and has annual sales of over $3 billion.[3][4] The Prairie Farms distribution footprint covers over 30 percent of the United States; products are available in grocery chains, mass merchandiser stores, club stores, convenience stores, dollar stores, drug stores, schools, food service outlets, and warehouse distribution centers.
In 2008, the company reported that its producers produced 1,387,347,510 pounds of milk, averaging 1,873,000 pounds per farm.[5] The sales from the 2007-2008 financial year were about $2.9 billion,[5] a large improvement from the $33,000 sold in the company's opening year.[2]
In 1999, Prairie Farms stated that they employed 2100 in eight Midwest states, and a total of 4300 if they included those employed at joint venture plants.[6]
Products
In 1938, Prairie Farms' income came solely from the sale of butter.[7] Today, Prairie Farms manufactures and sells dozens of different products, including milk, cheese, ice cream, juices, sour cream, dips, and many others. The company also manufactures fat-free and low-fat versions of almost every product, as well as lactose-free dairy products.[8]
Prairie Farms also makes several novelty products During the winter months, candy cane and eggnog-flavored milk are available. The Ice Cream Specialties Division manufactures several types of ice cream novelties under the North Star brand.[8]
Ice cream makes up a significant portion of Prairie Farms' sales.[7] The company offers multiple variations, ranging from fat-free to premium to sherbet, in an array of 65 different flavors.[8]
Brands
Prairie Farms produces a wide range of products and sells them through multiple branded partners. These brands are:
During the Great Depression, dairy cooperatives were scarce. Starting a cooperative required large amounts of money, and the only way to obtain it was to sell shares of stock. However, because the market was so fragile, going public was generally not beneficial, especially when the price of a share of stock was far greater than the price of the product sold by the company. In the 1930s, the average container of butter sold for approximately ten cents, while a share of stock in Prairie Farms would have cost nearly twenty-five dollars.[7]
When the Depression ended, cooperatives began to form because farmers sought solutions to common problems. Due to milk's short shelf life, it needed to be sold quickly or converted to other products which did not spoil as quickly. However, the facilities needed to do this were expensive, and most farmers did not possess the resources needed to install them on their farms. Through the use of cooperatives, raw milk was purchased from the farmers and converted to butter and cheese, then distributed and sold to consumers.[9] In 1938, the Producers Creamery of Carlinville, which would later be renamed Prairie Farms Dairy, was the ninth cooperative creamery to join the Illinois Producers Creameries.[10]
Growth
The Producers Creamery of Carlinville of 1938 differed greatly from the current Prairie Farms. Over the past 70 years, the dairy cooperative has grown largely by merging with and buying other dairies. The first such merger occurred on January 1, 1954, when the company bought the Community Dairy of Alton, Illinois. This acquisition benefited the Producers Creamery of Carlinville greatly in many ways. The Community Dairy of Alton received four million pounds of milk per year from forty producers and had annual sales of approximately $250,000. The Producers Creamery of Carlinville continued to use the Community Dairy name on all glass-bottled products produced by the facilities in Alton.[7]
March 1, 1962 marked a major change for the Producers Creamery of Carlinville. After merging with Prairie Farms of Western Illinois, the Prairie Farms Dairy of Carbondale, Illinois, and the Producers Dairy of Danville, Prairie Farms Dairy Incorporated was formed. The new company distributed products throughout the middle of the country and was more financially secure than the three companies were individually.[7] The merger was initially named Prairie Farms Creamery of Carlinville but later it was renamed Prairie Farms Dairy.[11]
In April 1969, Prairie Farms created the PFD Supply Company, a company designed to produce nondairy products for fast food restaurants. This decision was profitable for Prairie Farms, bringing in three million dollars annually by 1978. PFD Supply manufactured and distributed almost all of the food and paper products used by McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Dairy Queen, and many others.[7]
Another notable acquisition consisted of the purchase of the Chamberlain Ice Cream Company located in Lafayette, Indiana, and the Vix Ice Cream Company with locations in St. Louis, Missouri, and Marietta, Georgia. On August 1, 1969, Prairie Farms created Ice Cream Specialties, Inc. in conjunction with the purchase of the two companies. Ice Cream Specialties mainly produced ice cream novelties, or small, individually packaged ice cream treats, which Prairie Farms thought would bring in sizable revenue during the summer months. The purchase cost Prairie Farms about $2 million, and the company predicted ice cream novelty sales would pay for it within ten years. However, Kroger opened an ice cream novelty plant soon after in Indianapolis, reducing sales by 30 percent.[7]
By 1979, the company was the result of 36 dairy purchases, nine mergers, and two joint ventures, and those listed previously are only a few of the many that occurred. The businesses purchased by the cooperative varied greatly, from distributors to ice cream producers. Prairie Farms acquired dairies with sales ranging from $250,000 a year to $7,000,000 a year, and the reason for the purchase ranged from the acquisition of a competitor's customer base to gaining new facilities with modern technology. The total amount paid for the mergers and acquisitions up until 1982 was more than $10 million.[7]
Since 2008 and headquarters relocation
In recent years, consumers have been largely concerned with the presence of rbST and rBGH, which are bovine growth hormones used to allow a cow to produce more milk. Although the Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly stated that dairy products from cows given these hormones are safe for human consumption,[12] many people remain unconvinced. Beginning February 1, 2008, Prairie Farms decided to prohibit its producers from using rbST and rBGH due to increasing requests from consumers.[13]
In early 2010, Walmart, a major Prairie Farms customer, decreased the amount of product purchased from Prairie Farms. Previously, Walmart had used Prairie Farms as the milk source for its house brand, Great Value. Currently, Walmart buys the milk for the Great Value brand from a dairy in Texas. Although this shift decreased the volume of milk sold by Prairie Farms, CEO Ed Mullins says that Walmart is still the company's largest customer. In an article from the Illinois Times, Mullins stated that layoffs and plant closures are a possible result of the loss in sales, but that the company is trying to make up for the loss by increasing sales to other companies.[14]
In 2016, Prairie Farms announced plans to relocate the corporate headquarters from Carlinville, 35 miles south to Edwardsville, a rapidly growing St. Louis suburb, to assist with talent attraction and retention, as well as consolidate corporate employees from five locations.[15] Prairie Farms moved into the new $9 million, 30,000 square foot headquarters building in early August 2017. The building is located at 3744 Staunton Road in far eastern Edwardsville, within Edwardsville Corporate Center, a business park in the southeast quadrant of the interchange of Interstate 55 and Illinois Route 143; the business park also houses the headquarters of Scott Credit Union and Hortica Insurance. Initially, an estimated 80 to 100 employees will be based in the building.[16]
In May 2020, Prairie Farms acquired six plants as part of the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy of Dean Foods.[17]
The Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) is a farmer-owned dairy cooperative headquartered in Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The association manufactures and sells dairy products under the "Tillamook" brand name. Its main facility is the Tillamook Creamery, located two miles north of the city of Tillamook on U.S. Route 101.
Glanbia plc is an Irish global nutrition group with operations in 32 countries. It has leading market positions in sports nutrition, cheese, dairy ingredients, speciality non-dairy ingredients and vitamin and mineral premixes. Glanbia products are sold or distributed in over 130 countries. While Europe and the USA represent the biggest markets, the Group are continuing to expand into the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Glanbia's primary listing is on Euronext Dublin. The Group has four segments; Glanbia Nutritionals, Performance Nutrition, Glanbia Ireland and Joint Ventures & Associates, with a combined workforce of over 7,000 employees in 32 countries.
Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an American member-owned agricultural cooperative based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Arden Hills, Minnesota, United States, focusing on the dairy industry. The cooperative has 1,959 direct producer-members, 751 member-cooperatives, and about 9,000 employees who process and distribute products for about 300,000 agricultural producers, handling 12 billion pounds of milk annually. It is ranked third on the National Cooperative Bank Co-op 100 list of mutuals and cooperatives. The co-op is one of the largest producers of butter and cheese in the United States through its dairy foods business; serves producers, animal owners and their families through more than 4,700 local cooperatives, independent dealers and other large retailers through its Purina Animal Nutrition business; and delivers seed, crop protection products, agricultural services and agronomic insights to 1,300 locally owned and operated cooperative and independent agricultural retailers and their grower customers through its WinField United business.
The Cabot Creamery Cooperative is an American dairy agricultural marketing cooperative owned by Agri-Mark. The cooperative has a plant in Cabot, Vermont, but its administrative headquarters is in Waitsfield, Vermont.
Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food conglomerate founded in 1894. One of the best-known food processing companies in the U.S., Beatrice owned many well-known brands such as Tropicana, Krispy Kreme, Jolly Rancher, Orville Redenbacher's, Swiss Miss, Peter Pan, Avis, Milk Duds, Samsonite, Playtex, La Choy and Dannon.
Dean Foods was an American food and beverage company and the largest dairy company in the United States. The company's products included milk, ice cream, dairy products, cheese, juice, and teas. It processed milk in the United States under a number of regional and national brands. Founded in 1925, the company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 2019, and its assets were acquired by several buyers in 2020.
Cass-Clay or Cass-Clay Creamery is a creamery headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded in 1934 in neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota. Its present-day headquarters are at 200 20th St North in Fargo. It manufactures dairy products such as milk, cream, butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt and ice cream. It also manufactured dips and juices.
Dairy Farmers of America Inc. (DFA) is a national milk marketing cooperative in the United States. DFA markets members' raw milk and sells milk and derivative products to wholesale buyers both domestically and abroad. Net sales in 2016 were $13.5 billion, representing about 22 percent of raw milk production in the United States.
Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited is a dairy products co-operative in Canada producing butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, whipped cream and lactose free milk for retail, foodservice, industrial and export markets. Gay Lea also produces a new product called "Spreadables", which is a spreadable butter, made as a canola oil and butter blend, that tastes like butter but is spreadable directly out of the fridge. The company is based in Mississauga, Ontario and owned and operated by Ontario milk producers, currently representing approximately thirty-five per cent of all Ontario dairy farms.
Liberté Inc. is a Canadian producer and distributor of dairy and deli foods, based in the Saint-Hubert borough of Longueuil, Quebec.
Purity Dairies, formerly known as Ezell's Dairy, is a Nashville, Tennessee, United States, based dairy company operated by the Ezell family. It provides products throughout Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. The company is owned by and operates as a subsidiary of Dean Foods and their products includes milk, cultures, and ice cream, orange juice, lemonade, tea and water, and it is one of the last distributors of the Nutty Buddy ice cream cone. They also once had a partnership deal for home delivery through Plumgood Foods, a now defunct grocery delivery company.
Humboldt Creamery was formerly an agricultural marketing cooperative located on the California North Coast currently owned by Foster Farms Dairy of Modesto, California.
The Sheffield Farms–Slawson–Decker Company, known as Sheffield Farms, was a dairy that pasteurized, bottled, and delivered milk in New York City in the first half of the 20th century. It became one of the largest dairy companies in the world, selling 20% of the city's milk. The company played a major part in transforming commercial milk into a clean and healthy product.
Vermont Creamery is a creamery and artisanal cheese and butter-maker in Websterville, Vermont, USA. It was founded in 1984 by business partners Allison Hooper and Bob Reese. Previously known as the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company, the company adopted its current name in 2013.
Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc. is an American dairy cooperative located in Buffalo, New York. Products provided by the cooperative include milk, cream, butter, yogurt, half and half, juices, egg nog, cottage cheese, sour cream, ice cream mix and chip dips. Upstate Niagara Cooperative is owned by farmers throughout western New York State.
Kemps is an American dairy company located in St. Paul, Minnesota. It has been a subsidiary of Dairy Farmers of America since being purchased in 2011 from HP Hood LLC. Dairy Farmers of America is based in Kansas City, Missouri, but Kemps continues to be headquartered in St. Paul. Products provided by the company include milk, cottage cheese, half and half, egg nog, cream, juices, sour cream, chip dips, ice cream, yogurt and novelties. Most of these products are sold at grocery stores throughout the midwestern United States, but some are available in other parts of the country as well. Kemps currently operates five manufacturing facilities in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The Bega Group is an Australian diversified food and drinks company with manufacturing sites in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria. Founded as an agricultural cooperative in the town of Bega, New South Wales by their dairy suppliers, it became a public company in 2011 when it listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Close to half of shares publicly traded are still held by Bega's farmer-suppliers. It is currently one of the largest companies in the dairy sector in Australia, with a base milk supply in 2018 of approximately 750 million litres per annum.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 U.S. Department of Agriculture. Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc.: Economic Impact of a Dairy Cooperative. Washington D.C.: The Department, 1982.
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