McMINNVILLE, Ore. — Organic Valley celebrated the grand opening of its new butter plant in McMinnville on Aug. 12 after buying the old Farmers Cooperative Creamery last year.

The plant is the co-op’s first brick-and-mortar facility outside Wisconsin, Hans Eisenbeis, director of Organic Valley public relations, said.

Organic Valley is the nation’s largest cooperative of organic farmers, with 2,013 members, 77 of whom are in Oregon and Washington. After Wisconsin, Oregon produces the next largest volume of milk in the Organic Valley supply chain. The co-op’s sales have topped $1.1 billion, and in 2016 it saw a 15 percent growth in membership and 5.8 percent growth in sales, according to the co-op.

The plant will produce butter and skim milk powder, but in the future could expand to making buttermilk powder and other products.

The creamery has 37 full-time employees on two shifts, Monday through Friday.

Organic Valley’s renovation of the former FCC plant was one of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s business development reserve fund investments to support small business growth, according to her office. The facility received a $350,000 check that Chris Cummings, deputy director of Business Oregon, presented during the opening ceremony.

“Organic Valley knew pretty quickly that McMinnville is the place to do business,” he said.

The event included a tour of Dan Bansen’s dairy in Dayton, Forest Glen Jerseys.

Bansen estimated he had about 800 guests at the farm that morning, according to Sasha Bernstein, a company spokeswoman.

Forest Glen Jerseys was the first farm in Western Oregon to join the co-op with 300 its cows, and is one of the bigger dairies associated with Organic Valley, Bansen said. He has followed organic practices for 24 years.

In Oregon, about 20 percent of the dairies are organic, said co-op member Steve Pierson of Sar-Ben Farms.

At the end of the event, official remarks were made by George Siemon, Organic Valley CEO; Lisa Hanson, deputy director of Oregon Department of Agriculture; Scott Hill, mayor of McMinnville; Pierson; and Cummings.

Siemon thanked FCC for giving them the opportunity to take over the plant, and said that McMinnville was the “strongest regions for the Organic Valley brand.”

Eisenbeis said earlier that Organic Valley had “a cultural fit” in McMinnville — a city that Hill dubbed unique because of its heritage.

“This is a historic building, we’ve seen it for many years,” Hill said of the plant, “but in partnering with Organic Valley we will be taken into the future to produce the best butter in America.”