A sprawling, $1.2 billion Chobani dairy plant should get under construction later this year in Rome, Oneida County.
Gov. Kathy Hochul made the announcement Tuesday — the latest in a series of sizable dairy plant projects in upstate New York driving increased demand for farmers and promising hundreds of jobs.
The New York-based company best known for its Greek yogurt would build its second production facility in the state on what today is a county-owned triangle-shaped parcel at Griffiss Business and Technology Park.
In scale, the proposed 1.4 million-square-foot plant would be nearly twice the size of the fairlife milk processing plant being built in Webster in Monroe County.
"Through this partnership with Chobani, we're revitalizing Upstate New York's manufacturing sector one spoonful at a time," Hochul said in a statement, touting the Chobani projects as "the largest natural food manufacturing investment in American history.”
The state last year awarded Oneida County $23 million to complete infrastructure and make other investments to prepare the site for development. To lure Chobani, the state has agreed to provide up to $73 million in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits, on the promise that the new plant will employ more than 1,000 people.
By comparison, fairlife received $21 million in tax credits for what originally was estimated as a $650 million milk processing plant and the promise of creating 250 jobs. New York provided $40 million in combined aid to help the town of Webster prepare the site and upgrade its wastewater treatment plant.
Once operational, the Chobani plant will take in 12 million pounds of milk per day, where the fairlife plant will start at 5 million pounds. For context, New York state's 3,000-plus dairy farms currently produce an estimated 44 million gallons of raw milk daily.
"We have some challenges, big challenges, especially on milk," Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya said during a news conference in Rome. "We need more milk, especially on people. We need more people, especially training."
Kevin Burns, Chobani president and COO, described the announced project as "phase one," adding: "We're building a campus, really."
With fairlife, estimates are the plant will take in all the milk produced at the 60 largest dairy farms within 100 miles of its plant. It was not immediately clear from how big of a radius Chobani expects to draw.
Chobani is the top-selling yogurt brand in the nation. The 20-year-old company also makes oat milk and creamers. Its original plant is in South Edmeston, Otsego County.
Other recent upstate dairy projects include a $700 million Great Lakes Cheese plant in Cattaraugus County, a $150 million expansion at Cayuga Milk Ingredients in Auburn, Cayuga County, and a $425 million add-on to the Wells Enterprises ice cream plant in Dunkirk, Chautauqua County.
