Minnesota Milk Producers Association Executive Director Lucas Sjostrom says the closing of the Dean Foods/Land O’ Lakes milk processing plant in Thief River Falls is disappointing news for Minnesota dairy farmers. “It is quite a small plant. We’d love more processing capacity (in the state), but immediately besides one less fluid market for our milk in Minnesota, we’re not seeing or hearing about any immediate impact besides a little higher hauling costs for people to reroute this milk to other places.” Sjostrom says the milk will mostly be rerouted through the Bismarck and Woodbury plants. Dean Foods is closing seven plants across the country. “I believe Land O’Lakes has a contract with Dean Foods so they will work on finding their members’ milk a home.” In April, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said Minnesota’s milk production was 813 million pounds, a two percent decline from last year.