The Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) is a farmer-owned co-op headquartered just east of Tillamook Bay, where it also manufactures cheese and ice cream. For more than 20 years, due to growing demand for Tillamook products, TCCA has operated a second cheesemaking facility next to the Columbia River at the Port of Morrow in Boardman.
The 2001 opening of the Boardman facility expanded TCCA’s cheese production substantially. The 85,000-square-foot facility can produce up to 170 million pounds of cheese per year. Much of the milk used by the plant is produced locally at Threemile Canyon Farms, a partner to TCCA for two decades. The process and recipe are consistent across all TCCA manufacturing, so fans taste the same great flavor no matter where the cheese is made.
Thirteen years after opening its Boardman cheese plant, Tillamook completed a 65,000-square-foot expansion at which it produces lactose powder and dried whey protein concentrate. Natural byproducts of the cheesemaking process, whey and lactose are used in a variety of products, from dietary supplements to baby formula. The facility can produce up to 10.5 million pounds of whey protein concentrate and up to 52 million pounds of lactose powder per year. Tillamook’s Boardman processing operations employ roughly 260 people.
While TCCA does not make ice cream at this location, it will soon expand production of its signature dessert. The co-op announced this year that it will open an ice cream manufacturing facility in Decatur, Ill., in late 2024. The facility will allow TCCA to serve its rapidly growing markets in the eastern U.S.