Novi, MI—Michigan Milk Producerrs Association (MMPA) this week announced the purchase of the Guggisberg Deutsch Kase Haus in Middlebury, IN.

The cheese plant acquisition diversifies MMPA’s dairy product portfolio, which currently includes butter, milk powder and various liquid milk products. MMPA, whose approximately 2,000 farmerowners are located in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio, currently owns milk processing plants in Ovid and Constantine, MI, and handles over 5 billion pounds of milk annually.

MMPA will assume ownership of Deutsch Kase Haus on November 1, 2016.

“We are eager to continue to grow our footprint in the Great Lakes region and utilize the expertise at Deutsch Kase Haus to gain greater diversity of our product portfolio,” said Joe Diglio, MMPA’s general manager.

“MMPA members have a proven track record of producing high quality milk and to be able to align with an award-winning cheese plant located in close proximity to our Constantine plant provides great synergies in our milk marketing strategy,” Diglio added.

The Deutsch Kase Haus cheese plant is located less than 20 miles from MMPA’s Constantine plant.

Deutsch Kase Haus started when a local Amish man, Ralph Bontrager, was concerned that the Amish farmers would no longer have a market for their can milk. He approached several local business people with the idea of starting a cheese factory to provide a home for the Amish-produced milk at a fair price. The company received its first milk in 1979.

Today, the Deutsch Kase Haus plant processes around 400,000 pounds of milk per day and employs 55 people. Deutsch Kase Haus produces award-winning Colby, Colby-Jack, Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Pepper Jack and other flavors.

“The Deutsch Kase Haus has established a valued and trusted legacy in Indiana. I am confident MMPA’s progressive leadership will carry on this legacy as we move forward, bringing mutual benefit to both Guggisberg Cheese Company and MMPA,” said Richard Guggisberg, owner of Guggisberg Cheese Company, Millersburg, OH, which acquired Deutsch Kase Haus in 2009 from Agropur.

“MMPA has a strong membership base in northern Indiana which will allow Deutsch Kase Haus to continue providing high quality products under new ownership,” Richard Guggisberg added.

MMPA plans to retain the current employee team following the ownership transition. Following the acquisition, MMPA intends to continue manufacturing the current types of cheeses made at the plant. The investment positions MMPA to further explore expansion opportunities at the Middlebury plant location in the future.

Earlier this year, MMPA, Foremost Farms USA and Dairy Farmers of America had announced that they had committed to exploring joint ownership and operation of a major cheese processing plant in the state of Michigan.

That decision was driven by the growing milk supply in Michigan, the lack of available processing capacity within the region, market accessibility and transportation benefits (for more details, please see “DFA, Foremost Farms, Michigan Milk Exploring Joint Ownership,” on page 1 of our June 3 issue by scanning the QR Code on page 2 of this issue).

In June, Michigan moved past Pennsylvania and became the number five state in US milk production. Michigan’s milk production has grown from just under 8 billion pounds in 2009 to 10.3 billion pounds last year.