Walmart says it plans to build a milk processing plant in Fort Wayne -- that would employ about 200 people to the area by the end of 2017.
Those jobs will pay more than the state’s average wage of $21.55 per hour, says Abbi Gras, spokeswoman for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
She says it will also help Hoosier farmers, who will sell the milk to Walmart to process at the Allen County plant. Gras says this will help save on transportation costs and also allow them more options when selling.
“They are running out of places to take this milk, so they are dumping milk, which is wasteful, and we are excited they are going to have somewhere new to take it here in Indiana,” Gras says.
Gras says Walmart chose Fort Wayne because it had space to build the facility and also the highways to bring it to Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and northern Kentucky.