Two dairy cooperatives with dozens of members in the region plan to merge in 2014.
The boards of Dairy Farmers of America, the largest U.S. marketing cooperative, and Dairylea Cooperative Inc. struck a preliminary agreement in October to merge. The co-ops, which are owned by dairy farmers who produce milk they sell, said the consolidation would boost market opportunities.
The board of DFA, which is based in Kansas City, already has approved the merger. DFA has 13,000 members in 48 states. It reported sales of $12.1 billion in 2012 and markets more than 61 billion pounds of milk annually.
Members of Dairylea, a regional co-op based in Syracuse, N.Y., will vote on the proposal in February. Dairylea has about 2,000 members and markets 6 billion pounds of milk annually on sales of about $1 billion.
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