News is out that the Dairy Research and Training Facility at South Dakota State University will close by the end of June. Milk from the facility is used to make the popular “Jackrabbit” ice cream” and cheese from SDSU. University officials are trying to reassure the public that the ice cream will still be available, and students can still major in Dairy Manufacturing and Dairy Production at SDSU.
Dr. Joe Cassady is the South Dakota Corn Endowed Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences at South Dakota State University. He says “this was a very difficult decision,” but the dairy barns were simply outdated and funding for a new facility couldn’t be secured.
“I appreciate the passion there is for our dairy industry, we recognize the importance of the dairy industry. Change is often difficult, but we are confident we can develop a different model for meeting the needs of the students and provide them with a really high quality education by partnering with our dairy partners.”
Hands-on learning for students will shift to local dairies in the Brookings area, and existing workers will have the opportunity to work elsewhere within the University system.
“We do not anticipate anybody losing their job. Obviously, there are two full time employees at the unit that will, we will enter in discussions with, about what other opportunities there are for them within the university system. There are about 20 undergrads that had been working at the farm. Only one of those, as I understand it, was majoring in the dairy and food science department. Some of the others may have been seeking a minor, but for the most part, the students working at the dairy were not our dairy and food science majors.”
Milk from the facility is used to make the popular “Jackrabbit” ice cream and cheese at the SDSU Davis Plant, but consumers shouldn’t notice a change.
“I can assure them we will continue to make Jackrabbit ice cream and cheese, and all of our other products. Our dairy manufacturing program will continue, both the teaching and the research. The one change will be – we have traditionally sourced our milk from the SDSU dairy farm, and we will need to source that milk from another provider. But the dairy plant, the Davis Dairy Plant, was paying the commercial milk price to our SDSU dairy, and so we’re not anticipating any economic negative impact on the Davis Dairy Plant.”
SDSU made its first commercial ice cream in 1910. In 2013, SDSU Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream was named best ice cream treat in South Dakota by Food Network Magazine.
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