California Gold Approves Terms of Merger

The California Gold board of directors approved the terms and conditions of a merger with Missouri-based Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) at its October 29 board meeting in Petaluma. A board vote to recommend the merger to the full California Gold membership is expected following a review of pre-closing documents.

"The dairy industry is changing rapidly and California Gold must be more aggressive to compete. As we move toward the year 2000, it is imperative that our cooperative be prepared for the business challenges that lie ahead," said Richard Sturgeon, California Gold's president & CEO. "A merger with DFA offers the best opportunity to maximize returns for our members, while meeting the needs of the marketplace."

DFA is the country's largest dairy cooperative with more than 24,000 members representing some 18,000 dairies in 43 states throughout the United States. DFA's dairy members market and process more than 34 billion pounds of milk annually, supplying fluid and manufacturing customers (and its own plants) with raw milk, dairy products and food components. DFA is the exclusive producer of cheese products under the Borden's label.

California Gold is one of the state's oldest dairy cooperatives representing more than 330 farmers in California and Nevada. With an annual milk supply of 2.5 billion pounds, the cooperative markets to bottling plants and produces American and Italian natural cheeses, cream, condensed and skim milk products, nonfat dry milk, whey protein, whey protein concentrate and other ingredients. The cooperative owns four manufacturing plants in Hughson, Petaluma, Tracy and Turlock.