Photo by Clay Schuldt AMPI corporate headquarters has been located in New Ulm at 3rd N. and Broadway since the 1990s. AMPI plans to keep its headquarters in New Ulm due to its central location between its six plants spread around the Midwest.

NEW ULM – In the mid 1990s, Associated Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI), the largest cheese cooperative based in the U.S. moved its headquarters to New Ulm.

Thirty years later, AMPI headquarters is still in New Ulm and is committed to remaining in New Ulm for the long haul.

AMPI communications director Mandy Hunecke said there are 63 employees who work out of AMPI’s corporate office located in center of New Ulm. This is where all the business side of the diary cooperatives operations done. The main reason the headquarters is located in New Ulm is due to logistics. AMPI operates five cheese production plants in Sanborn, Iowa; Freeborn, South Dakota; Paynesville, Minnesota; Blair, Wisconsin; Jim Falls Wisconsin and Portage, Wisconsin. New Ulm is centrally located between all of these plants.

Hunecke said the AMPI team is very mobile. People in the headquarters need to move back and forth between the different plants and it is beneficial to have a home in New Ulm.

“We’re in a great spot to support all of our plants,” Hunecke said. “It is a solid thing going in New Ulm and it will remain our home.”

In the last year there was some concern that AMPI might be moving out of New Ulm due to the sale of its butter plant located at 312 Center Street to Grassland Dairy.

Grassland Dairy operates out of Greenland, Wisconsin and is a multi-generational family business with a focus on butter. The AMPI staff that was working at the butter plant before the sale have continued to work for the plant, but are now working for Grassland Dairy.

Hunecke said the primary reason for the butter plant sale is AMPI has decided to focus investments on cheese instead of butter.

“We do cheese really well and we want to focus on that,” Hunecke said.

All of AMPI’s plants focus on cheese production. The butter plant in New Ulm was the only facilities focusing on a non cheese property. It was decided it made the best sense for cooperative members to sell the butter plant to a company specializing in butter.

Hunecke said AMPI continues to be a leader in cheese products. In the last year, the company has produced several award winning cheeses.

In the U.S. Championship Cheese contest, AMPI won first place for its sharp cheddar, Carolina Reaper Jack and White American slices. They also took third for their sweet whey powder cheese.

At the World Dairy Expo Championship, AMPI took first for its Party Jack and Whey Powder; second for its sharp cheddar and American pasteurized process cheese loaf EZ melt and third place for its Ghost Pepper Jack and American Pasteurized Process Cheese colored loaf.

In the National Milk Producers Federation Championship, they took first for mild cheddar and colby jack.

AMPI is continuing to expand its cheese offerings including increased cottage cheese production from the Blair plant.

A longterm goal is to expand exports. Since 2020, AMPI has been working to create relationships in the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and Africa. Hunecke said AMPI wants its cheese products in more locations; especially countries without a lot of cheese markets.

Though AMPI continues to expand to international markets, the company will continue to call New Ulm its home.

“We’re part of the New Ulm Community and we’re going to stay in the New Ulm community,” Hunecke said. “We’re going to continue to be a part of the town.”