Dairy processing operation gets $1 million

Thursday, June 16, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Skotidakis Goat Farm in St. Eugene is getting $1 million from the eastern Ontario development fund to help with an $11-million expansion.

John Skotidakis, president of the company, said new yogurt and cheese products derived mainly from cows’ milk will be added. Processing capacity will be expanded from 20 to 30 million litres of milk annually. The expansion, which will lead to an additional 10 jobs at the facility, is currently under way and will be complete by 2014.

This is the second cash infusion from the province in recent months. In March 2010, the province contributed $350,000 toward the purchase of $1 million worth of processing equipment at Skotidakis Goat Farm.
 
That project was for the purchase and installation of fully automatic multi-size filling and wrapping equipment to allow the farm to produce 30,000 cases of private label cream cheese bars for major grocery chains in Ontario and Quebec while processing an additional seven million litres of milk.

The Skotidakis family-run farm includes a goat dairy herd of 3,000 animals. Their product line includes feta cheese, ricotta cheese, pressed yogurt and tzatziki, a yogurt-based spread of garlic and cucumber. Skotidakis products are sold across Canada and in parts of the United States. BF