Meadow Gold closes Moloa’a dairy

MOLOA’A — The closing of Meadow Gold Dairies’ milk farm here may cost some

workers at the company’s Puhi plant their livelihoods, as well.

With the

announcement Friday (workers were told Thursday) that the Moloa’a farm, which

employs 16 people, will close by the end of this year, also came news that the

Puhi facility will shift from a manufacturing and distribution center to a

distribution-only operation.

That means the folks working in the

manufacturing side at Puhi (processing and packaging milk brought down from

Moloa’a) will likely lose their jobs along with the dairy employees.

But

it’s likely they’ll be offered other positions in the company, explained Meadow

Gold spokeswoman Christina Kemmer.

The company will offer severance

benefits, transition assistance and training opportunities for impacted

employees, many of whom could stay with Meadow Gold in other

positions—possibly on other islands, she said.

The need to cut costs to

remain competitive with other milk producers is the reason for the farm

closing. Meadow Gold milk prices should stabilize as a result of cost-savings

associated with the Moloa’a closing and Puhi changes, she said.

Even as

word spread of Meadow Gold’s plans, company president Glenn Muranaka was

jetting across the state Friday in search of jobs at other Meadow Gold

operations for the Kaua’i workers.

There are 21 employees at the Puhi

plant, where it was business as usual Friday in the immediate aftermath of the

announcements.

A breakdown of how many of those 21 workers are

manufacturing and how many are distribution was not available at presstime.

According to Kemmer, who represents Meadow Gold through Communications

Pacific, a public relations firm in Honolulu, most if not all of the displaced

workers will be offered positions at other Meadow Gold operations.

Until

the dairy closes, all of the Meadow Gold milk on Kaua’i store shelves comes

from Moloa’a cows—a fact that since the 1960s has given residents comfort that

if some disease, contamination or other problems interrupted the milk supply on

the other islands, Kaua’i still had a safe, on-island milk source.

For

some Moloa’a and Puhi workers, the changes on Kaua’i could mean having to leave

the island for other Meadow Gold jobs.

The company has distribution

operations on the four major islands, and dairies in Waimanalo on O’ahu, the

former Haleakala Dairy on Maui acquired by Meadow Gold, and another on the Big

Island.

Meadow Gold plans on offering severance benefits and transition

assistance, even if it means helping to get training for workers who do not

wish to stay with Meadow Gold.

“Meadow Gold is working with the employees

to identify what their preferences are for employment, or if they need

additional assistance or training,” Kemmer said.

The 170-acre site at

Moloa’a will return to owner Jeff Lindner.

Kaua’i County officials, when

informed of the closing, learned that about $2 million worth of improvements

will remain on the land after Meadow Gold leaves.

It is uncertain if that

includes several employee houses Meadow Gold built on the site. That decision,

Kemmer said, is up to Lindner. If Lindner wants the homes to stay, they’ll

stay. If he wants them removed, Meadow Gold will have to remove them, she

said.

Regardless, the farm workers living in those homes will have to move

by year’s end, if not sooner.

The farm’s 460 cows, which had supplied

21,000 gallons of milk a week to the Puhi facility, will be shipped to other

Meadow Gold dairies in the state.

“Regrettably, the decision to close the

farm was driven by the realities of market and regulatory forces that have

changed over the years,” said Muranaka.

The farm will gradually be closed

between now and the end of the year, in accordance with state Department of

Health rules and regulations.

The closure, Muranaka continued, is a result

of intensifying economic pressures imposed on dairy farms by a combination of

factors, including:

* Competition in the marketplace from rapidly

consolidating regional and national processors that enjoy advantages of

large-scale production in lower-cost areas.

* And the relatively high land,

labor and regulatory costs placed on smaller, locally based operations like the

Moloa’a dairy.

The company’s response to those challenges, and the

interests of its customers and employees, led to what Muranaka said was a

difficult decision to close the Moloa’a dairy in order to consolidate

operations to achieve production and processing facilities.

Talks are

underway between Meadow Gold and Grove Farm, owner of the land at the Puhi

facility, regarding the change from the manufacturing and distribution plant to

a distribution-only facility.

There is no danger of the Puhi facility

closing, Kemmer said.

Business editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at

pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).