Dairy products manufacturer to expand in Augusta

Shamrock Farms, an Arizona-based dairy products manufacturer, will invest $59 million to expand its Augusta County manufacturing operation, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday.

Shamrock Farms expects to create 28 jobs through the expansion, which will add 81,000 square feet to the manufacturer’s 250,000-square-foot facility in Mill Place Commerce Park.

The company opened its Augusta facility in 2014, and the facility focuses on producing extended shelf-life dairy products, serving East Coast markets. In the expansion project, the company will reconfigure space to allow for a new production line and will add incremental cold storage.

“Shamrock Farms’ decade of growth and investment in Augusta County is a powerful endorsement of Virginia’s business climate,” Youngkin said in a statement. “By enhancing their production capabilities here, Shamrock is helping to ensure that high-quality, locally produced dairy products continue to reach markets across the East Coast.”

Established in 1922 in Phoenix, Shamrock Farms is a family-owned business with about 6,000 employees and two milk manufacturing plants. Its products are available across the U.S. and sold in 135,000 retail grocery and quick-serve restaurants.

“We are deeply grateful for the dedication and support from our associates and partners in Virginia — they have been instrumental in fueling remarkable growth for Shamrock Farms and allowed us to innovate in both products and processing,” Kent McClelland, chairman and CEO of Shamrock Foods, said in a statement.

Shamrock Farms previously expanded its Augusta facility with a $40 million investment in 2017 that created more than 70 jobs.

“During this decade of expansion, Shamrock has added nearly 170 jobs in Virginia, and we remain committed to long-term economic growth and investment in this community for years to come,” McClelland said in a statement. 

Because of the expansion, the company will buy an additional $32.87 million worth of milk — about 16.55 million pounds — from Virginia dairy cooperatives over the next four years, according to a news release.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with Augusta County to secure the project. Youngkin approved a $600,000 Virginia Investment Performance Grant, a performance-based grant for existing Virginia manufacturers or research and development service providers supporting manufacturing for projects generating at least $25 million in capital investment. Youngkin also approved a $300,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund to assist Augusta County with the project.

Shamrock Farms will also participate in VEDP’s Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which provides services related to recruitment and training and cash grant reimbursements for associated human resources costs after a company has had new employees on the payroll for at least 90 days.