By Ellie Fellers,Special to the Sun Journal

NEW GLOUCESTER – Pineland Farms wants to operate a cheese-processing factory here using local milk and selling the cheddar cheese in the area.

“We want to be in the position to make a value-added product using local milk,” said Craig Denekas, vice president of the Libra Foundation. “This was a part of the plan from the start.”

Initially, October Corp. wants to build a 12,200-square-foot building with the capability to produce 300,000 pounds of cheese annually, according to the application before the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Eventually, that building could be expanded by another 9,800 square feet for additional storage and manufacturing, according to the application.

Initially, hard cheese will be featured, but Denekas says it might be feasible to expand into soft cheeses in the future. The cheese will be marketed at Pineland’s visitor center and the Portland Public Market.

Denekas said it takes 10 pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese. Currently, Pineland Farms sells milk to Oakhurst Dairy in Portland.

At Wilsondale Farm in Gray, a new dairy herd is being assembled for the cheese production. That farm is owned by October Corp.

When the cheese-making begins, each week about 1,600 gallons of whey, a byproduct of cheese making, will be produced and pumped onto trucks to be transported to cattle and dairy farms owned by October Corp. and used as nutritional supplements for the animals, according to the application.

The operation’s wastewater treatment would be managed by 15 employees, according to the application. Processed wastewater would be mixed with livestock bedding material on-site, composted and spread as agricultural waste at facilities licensed by Maine’s Department of Agriculture.

The Libra Foundation, through its real estate branch, the October Corp., purchased the former Pineland Center more than four years ago. With additional purchases, Pineland Farms now has more than 3,000 acres in New Gloucester and Gray, a 19-building campus and three farms. The renovated campus includes businesses, nonprofits and recreational trails.

The cheese-making operation would be next to one of those farms, Valley Farm, just off Intervale Road (Route 231) in New Gloucester.

Libra Foundation bought the ailing state-owned property to launch an ambitious revitalization program for the century-old facility. The current DEP permit allowed October Corp. to redevelop the Pineland campus into an office/business park and construct agricultural buildings at Valley Farm. Then a horse center was built at Highland Farm Equestrian Center in Gray.

New Gloucester Planner James Isaacson said review by the town would take place after DEP approval.

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