Walmart to open its first milk plant in the state

Walmart, the nation’s largest grocer and the world’s top retailer, is expanding its presence in the Texas dairy landscape.

The company, headquartered in Bentonville, Ark., says it plans to open and operate a milk processing facility in Central Texas in 2026. The plant, in Robinson, will create about 400 jobs and supply more than 750 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in Texas and neighboring states with milk sold under the company’s brands.

Bruce Heckman, Walmart’s vice president of manufacturing, said in a statement that the milk processed will be sourced mostly from Texas dairy farmers.

“This new facility continues our commitment to building a more resilient and transparent supply chain and ensuring our customers’ needs are met for this everyday staple,” Heckman said.

In addition to milk processing, the company said, it has opened facilities in Georgia and Kansas that produce prepackaged beef. In 2022 Walmart partnered with vertical-farming company Plenty to source leafy greens for its California stores.

This will be Walmart’s third milk-processing facility, following the opening of plants in Indiana in 2018 and Georgia in 2025.

Robinson, site of the new facility, is south of Waco in McLennan County. State and local leaders have highlighted the region’s Central Texas location in making food and beverage production a focus of its economic development efforts.

“We are proud to welcome a company, which tops the Fortune 500, to McLennan County,” County Judge Scott M. Felton said.

Robinson Mayor Bert Echterling said the plant represents a landmark development for the community of 13,000.

“This monumental investment is the first of its kind in

both size and value, signaling a transformative era for Robinson,” he said.

Texas is among the nation’s top milk-producing states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with 2022 production valued at $4.2 billion. And although milk consumption has consistently declined since the agency began keeping records in the 1970s, a rising demand for products such as cheese and yogurt has helped buoy the nation’s dairy industry. In 2022, according to the USDA, average consumption of milk products reached 653 pounds per person, an alltime high.