Jefferson County Landowner Prepares Site for Buyers as Southern Dairy Talks Slow

Ron Robbins has begun preparing his property in Jefferson County, New York, for potential buyers after discussions with Southern Dairy became less frequent. The company had planned to build a 300,000-square-foot dairy-processing plant on the site.

Robbins said communication with Southern Dairy had slowed substantially during the previous four months. He had delayed seeking approvals because securing them is easier when a specific business is identified for the property. He is now pursuing as much of the approval process as possible without waiting for a final decision from Southern Dairy.

Robbins said he still wants the site to host a dairy-processing facility. He said people in the agricultural and dairy industries agree that such a plant is needed in Northern New York.

Southern Dairy’s proposed facility was expected to create more than 80 jobs. It would also have made milk powders and other dry dairy products, which Jefferson County Agricultural Coordinator Jay Matteson said are not produced by existing processing plants in the North Country.

Matteson said agriculture contributes $3.9 billion to Northern New York’s economy, citing a Cornell University study. He said roughly 80% of that amount comes from dairy. As an example, he cited Great Lakes Cheese in Adams, whose annual economic impact he put at about $1 billion.

Owen Mansill, Southern Dairy’s chief executive, told 7 News that the company remains committed to bringing a plant to the Watertown area and continues to have interest in Robbins’s property. Mansill said the project is well advanced, but he did not identify its current stage.

Robbins and Matteson said they hoped Southern Dairy would have the necessary arrangements in place by the time the property was ready to be marketed.