California Dairies

Herding dairies together to gain "ag"-gregate strength makes California Dairies one of the largest dairy processing cooperatives in the US. Its 670 member/farmers provide the co-op with more than 17 billion pounds of milk a year. Its plants process milk into mainly butter, but also cheese and powdered milk for commercial and consumer use. The co-op's subsidiaries are Challenge Dairy Products (retail, foodservice, and ingredient products) and Los Banos Foods (cheddar cheese for food manufacturers). California Dairies also owns majority control of DairyAmerica, which markets some 40% of all the milk powder produced in the US, as well as other dairy products. The co-op exports to 50-plus countries worldwide.