Wapsie Valley Creamery

Wapsie Valley Creamery, Inc. (Wapsie) is a family-owned business which manufactures cheese, lactose, and whey products at its Independence, Iowa processing plant. Wapsie purchases its milk for the manufacturing of its products from nearly 300 independent dairy farms in east and northeast Iowa, southwest Wisconsin and northwest Illinois. Wapsie Valley Creamery, Inc. employs 79 people in northeast Iowa. Wapsie Valley Creamery sells its cheese products to large wholesale companies that cut and shred its cheese products into smaller private label packages for retail store shelves. Wapsie's lactose products are purchased by large manufactures and used as an ingredient mainly in food applications including confectionary, sweeteners and various dairy blends. Wapsie sells its reduced lactose whey products to wholesale companies which use them in processed cheeses, cheese spreads, and calf milk replacer. Wapsie has successfully produced products in the dairy industry since 1906. Although the dairy industry has shown little growth over the years, Wapsie has continuously adjusted its manufacturing processes and equipment to compete in the volatile landscapes of the dairy industry. Wapsie Valley Creamery continues to invest in new equipment that is able to process more milk more efficiently to obtain the best yields in its products. Although the company has grown over the years, the company is still a relatively small company in the dairy industry.