Oat milk is booming. Modesto plant will add workers to help meet demand for nondairy
SunOpta is expanding the oat milk portion of its Modesto plant to meet growing demand for this dairy alternative.
The company is hiring 10 people to go with the 157 already at the plant, executive Michael Buick said in a phone interview Friday.
SunOpta also turns out almond, soy and coconut milks at the Mariposa Road site, along with broths and stocks. It is headquartered in Minnesota and has other plants making plant-based milks, fruit snacks, frozen fruit, sunflower snacks, tea and more.
“Oat milk is what is growing the fastest now,” said Buick, senior vice president and general manager, plant-based foods and beverages. “Oat milk has more than doubled in the last 52 weeks and doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.”
SunOpta has operated since 2009 in the Beard Industrial District. It took over a portion of a fruit cannery that was once part of the vast Tri-Valley Growers cooperative, which went bankrupt in 2000.
Plant-based milks have taken off with consumers who avoid dairy for health or other reasons. Cow milk still dominates — Stanislaus County alone reported $737 million in gross income to farmers last year — but demand has slowed.
U.S. sales of the dairy alternatives totaled about $2.5 billion last year, up 20% from 2019, the Plant Based Foods Association reported.
Almond milk accounted for two-thirds of the total, virtually all of it from California nuts. Blue Diamond Growers is the biggest player, producing milk in Turlock and Sacramento.
Oat milk was No. 2 last year, made from grain harvested mostly in the upper Plains and Midwest and southern Canada.
Soy slipped to No. 3. It is produced from beans grown mainly in the north-central United States and adjacent stretches of Canada.
Each milk company starts with the basic plant ingredient and adds other items to achieve a certain taste, texture and nutritional content.
SunOpta does much of its processing for outside retail brands, which it does not disclose, and for restaurants and other food-service clients.
If you’re hankering for a taste, SunOpta sells oat-based coffee creamer under the Sown brand at Sprouts Farmers Market in Modesto and elsewhere.
The creamer also can be purchased on Amazon. SunOpta’s milks are “aseptic,” so they don’t need refrigeration. They are best enjoyed cold, the company said.
SunOpta employs a total of about 1,400 people, including at milk plants in Alexandria, Minn., and Allentown, Pa. It plans to add up to 185 at a milk plant under construction in Midlothian, Texas.
The publicly traded company reported total revenue of $789.2 million last year, up from $721.6 million in 2019.
The oat milk expansion is part of about $20 million worth of improvements to the Modesto plant, Buick said. It could add perhaps 10 to 15 employees over three years, on top of the 10 being hired now for the oat line, he said.
“The local community has been excellent,” Buick said. “... We’re really excited about the continued growth in our Modesto facility.”
Stanislaus County grows oats, but as feed for dairy cattle rather than direct consumption by humans. The crop brought an estimated $16 million to farmers last year.
The plant-based sector has thrived despite the national dairy industry’s argument that only fluids from lactating livestock should be labeled as milk.
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
