Land O’Lakes Bulks Up Its Protein Capacity

Food + Restaurants Land O’Lakes Bulks Up Its Protein Capacity The cooperative is expanding its processing facilities to capitalize on consumer demand for more protein products. By Liz Fedor October 09, 2026 Heather Anfang, Land O’Lakes executive vice president and president of its dairy foods business Land O’Lakes has been in the protein business since dairy farmers formed a cooperative more than a century ago to sell their milk. Now Land O’Lakes is a $16 billion-a-year Fortune 500 company that’s expanding its capacity to meet a growing demand for protein-rich products. “Every year in the United States, we eat more dairy,” says Heather Anfang, Land O’Lakes executive vice president and president of its dairy foods business. “If you look at what has driven that over time, it’s really been cheese, butter, and yogurt.” Land O’Lakes has branded products in those three categories, so it could simply increase its marketing to consumers. But the Arden Hills-based company is undertaking an ambitious strategy by overhauling its Tulare, California, processing facility, so it can sell more protein-based ingredients to other food companies. “That facility is the largest manufacturing facility we have in our network,” Anfang says. Within the large complex with multiple buildings, some of the space wasn’t being utilized. “We’ll be bringing more milk into the plant, and we’ll be re-operationalizing those buildings that are not in use today,” she says. About 1,100 dairy farms produce milk for the Land O’Lakes cooperative, and they vary greatly in size. “About 100 of them—around 10%, let’s say—are in the Central Valley of California,” Anfang says. “But that represents probably 40–45% of our milk. So those are the big guys.” Before the recent mainstream consumer interest in protein, she says exercise enthusiasts and body builders focused on whey protein products. The casein protein found in milk is appealing to consumers because it has a “slower digestibility,” she says. “It makes the people who eat it feel more satiated for longer.” So Land O’Lakes sees market opportunities in producing a higher volume of food ingredients and different formulations with milk protein. “The first phase of this investment is going to be producing an ultra-filtered milk,” Anfang says. “We will sell that to a lot of beverage companies.” Those companies will then sell the milk under their brand names. “We have a second phase that we’re looking at in Tulare, where we would dry the milk into a milk protein powder,” she says. “That could go into a protein bar, which is a good example of where the protein [in the bar] is coming from—the milk protein.” Crop farmers have been under more financial duress than dairy farmers, Anfang says, but all farmers have been dealing with challenges. She anticipates that Land O’Lakes farmers will start seeing benefits of the protein investment in 2027 and that the rewards to farmers will increase in 2028. “If you’re a Land O’Lakes farmer, you get paid every day for your milk,” she says. “Based on how the company performs, you get an annual dividend.” Anfang expects that the added production and new products at the California facility will boost dividends to farmers. The cooperative is expanding its capacity to produce high-value protein products in Tulare, California. PHOTO COURTESY: LAND O’LAKES Anfang didn’t grow up on a farm. She’s an Eagan native who started working at Land O’Lakes 27 years ago in an entry-level marketing position. Today she’s leading the dairy business, which brings in about $5 billion in annual revenue for Land O’Lakes. The dairy business includes food products sold directly to consumers as well as ingredients sold to food manufacturers that make finished products. About half of the milk powders produced by Land O’Lakes are exported. While Land O’Lakes dairy farmers supply milk to the cooperative over decades, the finished food products and the marketing of that food evolve over time. Today’s focus on the protein content in food grows out of a long-term public conversation among consumers about sources of food and health concerns over the food people are eating, Anfang says. More people are using wearable devices to track health-related data, they are using GLP-1 drugs to lose weight, and they want to eat more real food, instead of ultra-processed food, she says. Consequently, she says, this consumer analysis affects how Land O’Lakes produces and promotes existing products and considers what new products could meet changing consumer wants and needs. Land O’Lakes is targeting growing consumer wants for more protein products, and the increased demand is occurring as farmers have been hurt by tariffs and higher prices for fertilizer and fuel. Whether Land O’Lakes products are new or long-standing, “telling the story of dairy” is among the elements of Anfang’s job. The latest chapter involves the major protein initiative that’s based out of California. “I’d call it a protein investment, investing in space where we can provide value back to our farmer-owners,” she says. Some of those farmer-owners have taken a novel step to boost their incomes by crossbreeding animals. “Consumers have been eating a lot of beef,” Anfang says, and that was happening while cattle numbers were at low levels. “It’s given the dairy farmer an opportunity to crossbreed their dairy cow into a beef cow,” she says. “They’ve been able to sell those cows into the beef supply chain at elevated rates because the consumer demand for beef has been so strong.” In the current eco