SWEDEN – Danish multinational dairy cooperative Arla has announced an investment of SEK 300 million (approx. $35 million) in its dairy facility in Götene, Sweden, as it aims to expand its organic range.
According to a statement from the company, the investment will see the site’s capacity for handling organic milk doubled, from one to two day’s production time.
This announcement follows the news of an investment made by Arla earlier this, where the company invested SEK 95 million in Götene to expand its butter production capabilities.
“Every day, our farmer-owners do an incredible job on their farms and with this investment, we can contribute to continued growth for the organic range,” said Marika Lifbom, Arla’s site director in Götene.
“The conscious consumer will start buying more and more organic products, and we want to be able to meet that demand.”
Production at the Götene, Sweden site is expected to start in spring 2023, enabling the company to work smarter, more efficiently, and in larger volumes.
Meanwhile, Environmental activists blocked the entrance and exit to Arla’s largest dairy factory in the UK preventing the delivery of thousands of pints of milk.
The activists were protesting the continuous investment in animal dairy which has a huge impact on the environment.
“If we are going to address the climate crisis then we need to have a major shift from animal-based food products to plant-based. We are calling for an urgent transition,” activist James Ozden of the Animal Rebellion group said.
Arla spokesperson in a statement said that the cooperative was committed to producing dairy for the UK in the most sustainable way possible.
“We already make raw milk with around half the average emissions of dairy globally and intend to be carbon net zero by 2050,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier, a former dairy plant in Denbighshire found itself a buyer, after years of uncertainty surrounding the site.
Arla stopped operations at the plant, cutting some 97 jobs, and put the facility on maintenance mode in 2018 as it waited to find a new buyer.
After three years, the facility put up for sale for some US$3.5 million has found a buyer Procter Johnson, a firm that makes pigments for the construction industry.
The firm is set to re-locate from Flint to the former Arla site in Llandyrnog and plan to make some significant investment, mostly in new equipment.
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