Governor Kathy Hochul and other area officials helped with the ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday for a massive dairy processing facility in the Town of Webster.
The facility to be built off Tebor Road involves a $650 million investment by fairlife, a company that makes ultra-filtered milk products. It is owned by Coca Cola.
The project is expected to create several hundred construction jobs and about 250 permanent jobs, with the possibility that workforce could eventually grow.
Hochul said the fairlife plant will benefit the area’s economy in a number of ways, including by helping the agricultural community.
“We have over 3,000 dairy farmers here, and this is a lifeline for them as well, this gives them hope, and I believe in them,” said Hochul. “I’ve toured so many dairy farms around the state, this is such a big deal to them as well.”
Fairlife CEO Tim Doelman said there are a number of reasons the company chose this region for the new plant.
“The commitment by the state to agriculture, it was super important to us,” said Doelman. “In addition to that the workforce, a big deal, I mentioned RIT, some of the training programs that are available in the area really mattered to us too. The support by Cornell, for agriculture, in general, specifically, dairy mattered a lot.”
Doleman said the new facility will eventually be processing about five million pounds of milk a day.
“There is enough milk in the region to be able to support us initially when we start up, and then it will be some growth.,” said Doleman, “and that's I think what Governor Hochul kind of touched on, which is it's an opportunity for farmers to continue to grow in the region.”
Empire State Development is provided up to $21 million for the project in the form of tax credits for the state’s Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit Program. That’s on top of a $20 million FAST NY grant that was announced last year, to help upgrade infrastructure at the site.
It was also announced on Thursday by the governor that the state will provide $20 million to help the town of Webster upgrade its aging wastewater treatment plant.
The new fairlife plant in Webster is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2025.
