Alaska Journal of Commerce - Matanuska Creamery Puts Valley Milk Back on Store Shelves

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Alaska Journal of Commerce - Matanuska Creamery Puts Valley Milk Back on Store Shelves

By Margaret Bauman

Fresh milk from Matanuska Valley farms is back on store shelves in Anchorage and the Valley after what one dairy farmer described as the longest winter he's ever spent at Point MacKenzie.

"I'm concerned that this country is not producing enough for itself," Wayne Brost told several dozen guests at a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 30 to celebrate the opening of the Matanuska Creamery. "The more we can produce, the better the health of the country."

Brost, like other area dairy farmers, found themselves forced to dump their milk on the ground after Matanuska Maid dairy stopped production last year. The Matanuska Creamy recently began accepting the milk, initially for cheese production.

"Tell your friends and neighbors there is local fresh milk," said creamery manager Kyle Beus, speaking from a raised platform inside the creamery. Posted behind him was a large banner that displayed the creamery's slogan: Securing the future of Alaska's dairy industry, one gallon at a time.

"We are getting 300 to 400 gallons a day of fresh milk," he said.

The bright yellow gallon-sized jugs of Matanuska Creamery milk are now on sale at Fred Meyer and Three Bears stores in the Valley, and Fred Meyer in Anchorage. The milk will also be sold at Target stores when they open in October, Beus said.

The creamery is purchasing its milk jugs locally from another relatively new firm, BLW Manufacturing, based in Palmer. Owner Tim Weeks also owns and operates Paragon Distributing, which sells bottled Alaska Glacier Blend water in gallon jugs.

Brost, Beus and Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, an avid supporter of the project, focused on the need for local production in an economy where rising fuel costs are sending the price of groceries soaring.

With vehicle fuel costs hovering at $4 a gallon, and Alaska some 2,500 miles away from other fresh dairy products, Matanuska Creamery fills a real need, Beus said.

"Milk is $10 a gallon in Nome," said Stevens, who congratulated the farmers "for insisting on self-sufficiency."

Operators of the creamery, who got a start-up boost of a $643,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, plus backing from Stevens and Alaska Rep. Don Young, have been fetching milk from local dairies since mid-March.

In his comments to the crowd, Young said he's been a supporter of the dairy industry for years.

"When I read about dumping the milk, I got a tear in my eye," Young said.

Initially the milk was processed for cheddar cheese, and in early June some 35,000 pounds of that cheese, now aging in the creamery cooler, will be ready to sell.

While the cheese was not quite ready for tasting after the ceremonies, the creamery offered guests cups of fresh cold milk and cheese curds made at the creamery, as well as cookies and more. Guests also found on their seats bright red and gold bags from Target, filled with red ice cream bowls, chocolate and strawberry syrups and candied almonds to top off the ice cream that Matanuska Creamery is to begin producing this summer.

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