Dear Dairy Producer,
Your DIW team has been hard at work throughout the spring making progress on the project while also sharing information about future benefits and impacts with key stakeholders.
DIW Hard Hat Tour Success
On May 28, 2024, over fifty local and provincial government representatives, including the Alberta Minister of Agriculture, RJ Sigurdson, joined key project and industry stakeholders to tour the site, show their support, and provide an update on the progress of the DIW milk concentration facility.
The hard hat tour also had a large media presence, with local and provincial media highlighting the project in tv, print and radio coverage.
This was a fantastic opportunity for area residents, industry members and our partnering organizations to celebrate the progress of the project and see the facility is on track for construction completion by November 2024 with full production beginning in Spring 2025.
After the event, Minister Sigurdson posted a video to social media, expressing his support and announcing that the project has qualified for the Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit program. The value of the tax credit is estimated at $7.6 million.
Construction Progress
- Construction activity onsite has been focused on completion of the roofing membrane, which is now substantially complete.
- Interior ground work is ongoing, including underground plumbing and electrical conduit work.
- Tanker bay work is ongoing, including installation of overhead safety equipment.
- We are currently finalizing the last of the equipment and installation contracts.
- DIW, Pacific Process and the Western Dairy Processing Inc (plant operator) continue monthly planning sessions to detail activities and staffing levels required for plant commissioning this winter and Spring 2025.
About Dairy Innovation West
Dairy Innovation West (DIW) is a milk concentration facility under construction in Lacombe County, AB.
A first of its kind in Canada, the $75 million facility is owned by the Dairy Industry Development Council, Alberta Milk, SaskMilk, and Dairy Farmers of Manitoba. The facility has two key strategic objectives: to support processing expansion in Western Canada and to reduce the western Canadian dairy industry’s environmental footprint and transportation costs through the concentration of liquid raw milk. This state-of-the-art facility will have the capacity to accommodate up to 300 million litres of milk per year and is set to open Spring 2025.