In an open field near Seward, Neb., five full-sized shovels and one child-sized one rested in front of a makeshift stage, waiting as more than 60 guests gathered around on a humid Wednesday afternoon.
Gov. Jim Pillen joined state and local leaders and Nebraska’s dairy industry to break ground on a $165 million dairy processing plant north of Seward. The plant is expected to create 75 new jobs, increasing the state’s dairy workforce, and is projected to process 1.8 million pounds of milk a day.
The 236,000 square-foot facility is being built by Dari Processing of Rising City — a fourth-generation dairy company run by the Tuls family. It will be the company’s first major dairy processing plant and Nebraska’s sixth. Construction will take 18 months to complete, according to a company spokesperson.
Co-owner of Dari Processing, Todd Tuls, said the company presented plans for the processing plant to other states and explored four or five different cities in Nebraska, but landed on Seward.
“Seward actually had the best campus, and they also just really did the diligent work on recruiting us,” Tuls said.
Dari Processing purchased the 38-acre parcel from the city for just under $1 million in 2024. It will be the first dairy processing facility to be built from the ground up in Nebraska since 1963, according to the Nebraska State Dairy Association.
“Now we’ll have more capacity … this is one more place that milk can get shipped to, and it will provide an economic benefit for all of those here in the area,” said Doug Temme, president of the association.
Speaking at the ceremony, Pillen welcomed the investment by a family-owned business.
“I’ve seen enough Dollar Generals in this state to sink a ship,” Pillen said. “We should be doing business with the family-owned businesses who are the stakeholders in our communities across the state.”
Tuls Dairies, the production arm of Dari Processing, milks about 10,500 cows in Nebraska, split between two farms near Rising City and Shelby. Their proximity to the Seward plant will reduce milk transportation and energy costs, Tuls said.
The company expects the plant to need 20,000 milk cows, which would boost the declining number of milk cows in Nebraska. Currently, there are around 49,000 milk cows in the state, according to the first quarter National Agricultural Statistics Service report, down 2,000 from the same period last year.
“Cow numbers have been declining … but this will help get more a couple years down the road,” said Temme, the president of the Nebraska State Dairy Association.
The number could balloon even more in the coming years. Tuls said the company already has plans to expand the processing plant if things go well.
“We’ve done all the legwork and all the design to double this plant. Depending on the success of it, we’ve got another whole half of the project to build someday,” Tuls said.
The dairy industry contributes 2.8% of Nebraska’s GDP, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. Dari Processing’s new plant will add to it, according to leaders at the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. It will also economically benefit Seward.
“We are very fortunate to have interest by the Tuls family here and others wanting to be part of our community because that creates jobs, people will spend money in our community, there’s an economic development benefit to that,” said Seward Mayor Josh Eickmeier.
Seward is widening the access road leading to the plant. It will primarily be used by Dari Processing, but it will also be used by other businesses in the Rail Park. A children’s car seat company has also purchased a lot in the area and will break ground later this year.
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METHODOLOGY
To report this story, Naomi Delkamiller attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Dari Processing’s dairy plant in Seward, Nebraska. Delkamiller interviewed various state and city leaders and the company’s owners.
TYPE OF ARTICLE
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
