Walmart to bolster supply chain with $350M milk processing plant in Georgia

Walmart is building a $350 million milk processing facility in Valdosta, Georgia, slated to open in late 2025, the retail giant and the state’s governor announced Wednesday.

The facility will process and bottle a variety of milk products, using ingredients from local farmers, Walmart said. Products including whole, 2%, 1%, skim and 1% chocolate milk in gallons and half gallons will be sent to more than 750 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in the Southeast under Walmart’s Great Value and Sam’s Club’s Member’s Mark labels, Walmart said.

Walmart, the country’s largest food retailer, expects to break ground on the facility later this year. Once opened, it will employ nearly 400 people.

“Our milk processing facility in Valdosta, Georgia, will be an important milestone to delivering on our commitment to provide customers access to the high-quality milk they expect at the Every Day Low Prices they rely on,” Walmart VP of Manufacturing for Private Brands Bruce Heckman and SVP of Merchandising for Chilled, Adult Beverage and Convenience Tyler Lehr said in a company blog post. “We’re excited about what this new facility means for our Walmart customers, regional farmers and for the community of Valdosta.”

Walmart in recent years has invested heavily in its food processing infrastructure. In June 2020, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer opened a case-ready beef facility in Thomasville, Georgia, that distributes steaks and roasts to 500 Walmart stores in the Southeast.

In June, Walmart announced plans to open a $257 million case-ready beef facility, this one in Olathe, Kansas.

In August 2022, Walmart acquired a minority stake in North Platte, Nebraska-based Sustainable Beef LLC, a rancher-owned premium beef company.

In January 2022, Walmart was among the investors in a $400 million Series E funding round to support the growth of vertical farming company Plenty.

Georgia was the top milk-producing state in the Southeast in 2022, according to Georgia Milk Producers data cited by the governor’s office, with the dairy industry contributing nearly $2.5 billion to Georgia’s economy.

“This new, state-of-the-art facility will not only bring jobs and opportunity to the Valdosta area, it will enable our dairy farmers to produce more goods from start to finish right here in Georgia—sending a larger share of the retail dollar back to the family farm and giving Georgia consumers access to the freshest dairy products possible,” Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said in a statement. “This is a great victory for Valdosta-Lowndes County, the State of Georgia and our No. 1 industry—agriculture.”