Posts Tagged ‘F&A Dairy Products’

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Samantha Roberts

As 2011 comes to a close, businesses are rushing to make end-of-the-year deadlines, including renewable energy certificates (REC) for solar that will change in 2012.

F&A Dairy Products will be expanding its solar systems, adding four 100kilowatt units to the existing unit the dairy installed in May. “The four additional units will fuel different parts of the complex and will be located next to the existing unit,” said Bob Snyder, vice president of New Mexico operations for F&A Dairy. Snyder said the dairy decided to add the additional solar now, so it could take advantage of incentives that will expire in 2011.

“RECs are at a peak right now,” said Mellow Honek, a managing member of Sunspot Solar Energy Systems, which installed the panels at the dairy. “They are great right now, but they will still be good next year. The incentives are not going away, but will be changing. “I would definitely recommend other people (add solar). It’s a step in the right direction toward energy independence. And we have an abundance of sunshine here.”

“We thought if we were going to do it, it better be this year,” Snyder said. “The panels significantly offset the energy we use. “Solar does create enough energy to make a difference.”

Though the dairy uses too much energy to be entirely generated by solar, Snyder said the panels will help “take out some of the peaks.” “This is just to offset costs,” he said. “A dairy is a big place, and we use a lot of utilities to process the milk into cheese.”

Honek said the amount of solar the dairy will have after construction on the additional panels is completed in March 2012 will be equivalent to 100 solar systems on mid-sizes houses. “To my knowledge, the one 100-kilowatt unit the dairy has now is the largest commercial system on a privately owned building in New Mexico,” Honek said. “The system after everything is completed will be five times that size.”

Honek said installing all of the panels will take about 1,300 man hours. “The dairy has been a great customer, and they are a perfect example of a company that is making an investment in a major resource we have here,” Honek said. “Powering a portion of their plant using solar shows what is possible for businesses to do to reduce long-term energy costs.”

The dairy doubled in size a little more than one year ago and now employs about 140 people. “We are constantly making changes,” Snyder said. “Our goal is to get both plants running to full capacity.”

F&A Dairy distributes its products to Toucan Market and other distributors. Locally, Dion’s Pizza is a purchaser of F&A Dairy products.

The Future of Dairy in New Mexico

F&A Dairy is one example of growth the dairy industry in New Mexico has seen over the past few years. “Southern New Mexico is a major player in the dairy market,” said Jeff Witte, director/ secretary for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA).

“Southern New Mexico dairies have an abundant milk supply,” Snyder said. “Farmers are leaving California and coming to New Mexico and the Texas panhandle.”

Milk production in New Mexico averages more than 600 million pounds per month, according to the NMDA. New Mexico currently has 173 dairy farms, with a large number of them in eastern New Mexico. There are 20 processing plants in the state.

“Dairy in New Mexico saw growth in the eastern portion of the state from 2008 to ’09,” said Robert Hagevoort, extension dairy specialist with New Mexico State University. Hagevoort said cheese plants in Clovis, N.M., and Dalhart, Texas, spurred this growth. “There are benefits in New Mexico for the dairy industry,” Hagevoort said. “There is a lot of agriculture in New Mexico, so farms can grow the feed that dairies need, and they, in turn, can supply the farms with fertilizer. “There is a natural free flow from each one.”

Hagevoort said dairies also use marginal farmland so they don’t compete with other crops. However, dairies are struggling with drought conditions, high feed costs and corn prices that are increased from ethanol demands. “Depending on world economy, the future of dairy in New Mexico is still great,” he said. “It all depends on larger economic factors beyond our control. Linking energy to food policies doesn’t make any sense.”

Article courtesy to the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Gabriel Vasquez

Not many people know about the West Mesa Industrial Park, a 1,820-acre development located on Interstate 10, eight miles west of Las Cruces. It is home to several companies specializing in light and general manufacturing, and more are coming.

Most recently, Alaska Structures (AKS), a company in Las Cruces for more than 10 years, has expanded from its South Main Street facility into the 180,000-square-foot West Mesa building previously occupied by Rea Magnet Wire.

“I can confirm they are now occupying the old Rea building, and have taken over part of the Parkview site as well,” said Davin Lopez, president and CEO of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance.

The Parkview Metals site, vacant since 2007, stands at 100,000 square feet. AKS leased all but the office space in the building as it continues to consolidate its El Paso operations into Las Cruces.

“(AKS) will need more employees, but I do not know if they are hiring right now,” said Christine Logan, administrator for the city’s Economic Development Department. AKS designs, engineers and manufactures fabric-building systems for extreme environments for both military and commercial use. It recently was awarded a large contract that called for the expansion. Expected employment for the Rea site is 75 to90 employees, city officials said, with a possible expansion of up to 170 employees once the Parkview site is fully operational.

“It’s safe to say, that any local company that expands at this rate can only be a great opportunity for us,” Lopez said.

Although industrial buildings are still available for lease, space on the West Mesa is becoming more of a hot commodity.

“Don Billings has a 6,000-square-foot spec building available on Trigg Loop and NAI 1st Valley is marketing a 23,000-squarefoot facility on Crawford Boulevard,” Logan said. “Although there are not many buildings available, there are several development ready land parcels available through private land owners and the city.”

Current West Mesa tenants include Samson Equipment, which continues to do well and is looking to acquire additional land for expansion. F&A Dairy Products has completed a significant expansion and has recently upped its employment number to 93.

The Sapphire Energy research and development site continues to grow and now employs 24 full-time and has added several interns from New Mexico State University.

Onion producers Barker Produce have a new facility under construction on the West Mesa and Premier Distributing opened a facility there in February and employs 63 people in the park.

For more information on the West Mesa Industrial Park, a city-owned light manufacturing and industry development, call (575) 541-2286.