Russell County farm to invest $1M in expanded manufacturing

Goat milk products maker Bates Family Farm will invest roughly $1 million to relocate its manufacturing facility to a Russell County-owned building in Lebanon, a project expected to create 12 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday.

“We’re creating agriculture-based jobs and selling Virginia-made products,” Bates Family Farm co-founder and CEO Joseph “Joe” Bates said. The jobs encompass multiple skills, he said, with most employees moving between the processing and farm sides depending on the season.

The Russell County-based manufacturer will move its skin care products manufacturing from a roughly 4,000-square-foot building on the farm to the 40,000-square-foot former Acme grocery store building, according to Bates. Bates Family Farm will then convert its current manufacturing building into a creamery to expand its dairy operation within a year to 18 months, he said, producing bottled goat milk and cheeses.

“What’s happened is our herd has grown over the years,” Bates said. “We’ve gone from basically 30 goats to about 200 goats at the moment, and of course, we’re getting a lot more milk, so now, our sales can’t keep up with our milk production,” which prompted the expansion.

Over the next three years, the company expects to increase production to $2 million worth of agricultural product (the value of the milk, not the finished products).

Shannon and Joe Bates established the company in Lee County in 2013 and later moved it to Russell County. Bates Family Farm’s skin care products include soap, lotion, lip balm and body cream and are sold in more than 1,000 retail and specialty stores across the U.S. The company offers 26 scents, Joe Bates said.

The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority provided the Russell County Industrial Development Authority with three loans for the purchase and renovation of the former Acme building in Lebanon: up to $500,000 in July 2021, up to $200,000 in February 2022 and up to $250,000 in March.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with Russell County and the Russell County Industrial Development Authority to secure the project. Youngkin approved a $70,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) Fund, which Russell County will match locally.

“I am pleased to see this AFID award assist in the relocation and expansion of Bates Family Farm, a Virginia home-grown, agricultural business, founded by one of our country’s veterans,” Youngkin said in a statement. “This project increases economic development activity in Russell County, provides new jobs in a rural area and demonstrates our support of the commonwealth’s dairy industry and to Virginia’s entire agricultural community.”