Dairy Farmers of America will effectively close its St. Albans milk processing plant and the adjoining St. Albans Creamery & Supply, the group announced Wednesday, putting roughly 80 employees out of work.
“Both the plant and store have been foundational parts of the St. Albans community for generations,” DFA said in a statement, adding that it recognizes “the deep local connections to these operations.” A DFA spokesperson told VTDigger that idling
the plant means day-to-day production will end, but the group will retain ownership of the facility and maintain a “small team” on site.
The closure is a blow to Franklin County’s dairy economy, removing a longtime processing hub in a region built heavily around the industry that has recently faced similar dairy production shutdowns. Dairy Farmers of America, a national farmer-owned cooperative, called the move part of broader operational and network changes.
For union organizer Curtis Clough, the decision to largely end operations came “out of the blue,” and he and his fellow union members were upset once made aware. DFA told workers about the decision 15 minutes before making its public announcement, according to Clough. The DFA spokesperson confirmed to VTDigger that workers were alerted Wednesday morning.
“They’re upset. They’re angry. They feel like they have supported DFA through the hard times, like Covid, and DFA is turning around and abandoning them, so they’re taking it pretty hard,” Clough told VTDigger, describing workers’ reactions to the news.
The St. Albans plant and store have operated in the county for decades, with the factory producing dairy for Vermont vendors, including Ben & Jerry’s and Cabot Creamery. The latest decision comes after the St. Albans Creamery & Supply announced it would close its co-op grocery store last summer, transitioning solely into a retail business. It also follows the plant’s unionized workers’ reaching a contract with Dairy Farmers of America in October 2025, after alleging “brutal” working conditions, including mandatory overtime that extended their shifts into 12-hour workdays.
Dairy Farmers of America said in its announcement Wednesday that the shuttering is not a reflection of workers’ performance and that it is committed to supporting those affected.
Clough, who helped lead the organizing for a contract, said he does not think the shuttering is related to union activity but rather it “relates more to the fact that the dairy industry is in freefall in Vermont.”
Earlier this month, Franklin Foods, a dairy company that has also operated in Franklin County for more than a century, announced it would be closing its facility, laying off nearly 100 workers. That followed significant layoffs by another company in the area, Perrigo, which announced in May it would be laying off 161 employees as the company moves toward closing its facility in Georgia. Before that, in September 2025, dairy manufacturer HP Hood confirmed it would be closing its plant in Barre, affecting approximately 50 employees.
“We knew something’s been going on in the milk industry,” Clough said, referring to the pattern of closings. “We reached out to some of the state officials months ago.”
Matthew Staebner, a dairy farmer in South Glastonbury, Connecticut, whose family used to farm in Franklin County, said the St. Albans plant closing, alongside the other dairy facility closures in the area, is “going to negatively affect all the dairy farmers in New England.”
“I just think that it’s time that a lot of the dairy farmers look to basically do what most other farmers now are doing, which is marketing their own products,” Staebner told VTDigger, describing the ripple effect these closures will have on the dairy industry.
Despite the recent spate of closings in the Vermont dairy industry, Clough said he was “surprised at the scope” of DFA’s decision. While Clough said DFA has been “consistently losing customers” due to the state of the dairy industry, he argued that the plant still has enough business to justify operations, citing its notable customers like Ben & Jerry’s, and said that the “milk industry is bound to bounce back.”
Anson Tebbetts, Vermont’s secretary of agriculture, food and markets, told VTDigger that he believes “something is going on” with the processing industry, but said it’s “probably not just unique to Vermont.” Nevertheless, he said the agency has been meeting with a team of others in the state involved in economic development and agriculture to “think about some of these plants and what the future may be for them, and if there’s any way to repurpose them.”
Currently, the milk received at the St. Albans facility will continue to be processed, which DFA said will ensure a “market for regional dairy farmers and continued service to customers without disruption.”
The plant’s last day of operations will be Aug. 17, according to DFA.
“We hope that they reconsider their decision,” Clough said. Union members will be meeting with DFA to talk about worker accommodations in July, according to Clough, and the workers have already been in contact with U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.
In the meantime, DFA is providing the affected employees with transition support, according to its spokesperson, including severance pay.
“Keeping the facility gives us flexibility as we evaluate what makes the most sense for the future,” the spokesperson said.
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This story was originally published by VTDigger and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
