Dairylea's History

Dairylea's rich history dates back to 1907, when a group of dairy farmers in Orange County, New York, united to increase their bargaining power. They formed one of the country's first cooperatives - The Dairymen's League. By the 1920s, the Cooperative's membership had grown to more than 100,000 farms.

In order to obtain fair pricing and guarantee a market for all of its members' milk, the Dairymen's League Cooperative Association began operating its own processing and manufacturing plants. The Cooperative introduced the name "Dairylea" for its products in 1923, which went on to become one of the leading brands in the Northeast. In 1969, the Cooperative changed its name to Dairylea Cooperative Inc., for a closer tie-in to its product line.

The Cooperative continued producing the "Dairylea" product line until November 1988 when it sold the last of its commercial operations. Having divested of its operating facilities, Dairylea embarked on a plan of investing in dairy enterprises throughout the Northeast. Currently, the Cooperative has more than $10 million invested in agricultural businesses within the region.

Since the early 1990s, when Dairylea returned to its roots as a milk marketing and service organization, it has grown at a tremendous rate. The volume of milk marketed by the Cooperative more than tripled during the decade, reaching nearly 5.5 billion pounds annually. Dairylea's sales also tripled, with current sales reaching nearly $1 billion annually. The Cooperative is now the largest marketer of raw milk in the Northeast, and has sale contracts with virtually every major dairy business in the region.

In 1999, Dairylea, in conjunction with Dairy Farmers of America's Northeast Area Council, formed Dairy Marketing Services, LLC (DMS), which manages the sale and distribution of the raw milk of both organizations, which includes more than 9,500 farms producing 16.0 billion pounds of milk annually.