Ceremonial Groundbreaking for Dairy Processing Plant Held at Seward Rail Park

By Naomi Delkamiller

In an open field near Seward, five full-sized shovels and one child-sized one rested in front of a makeshift stage, waiting as more than 60 guests gathered around on a humid Wednesday afternoon.

Gov. Jim Pillen joined state and local leaders and Nebraska’s dairy industry to break ground on a $165 million dairy processing plant north of Seward. The plant is expected to create 75 new jobs, increasing the state’s dairy workforce, and is projected to process 1.8 million pounds of milk a day.

The 236,000 square-foot facility is being built by Dari Processing of Rising City — a fourth-generation dairy company run by the Tuls family. It will be the company’s first major dairy processing plant and Nebraska’s sixth. Construction will take 18 months to complete, according to a company spokesperson.

Co-owner of Dari Processing, Todd Tuls, said the company presented plans for the processing plant to other states and explored four or five different cities in Nebraska, but landed on Seward.

“Seward actually had the best campus, and they also just really did the diligent work on recruiting us,” Tuls said.

Dari Processing purchased the 38-acre parcel from the city for just under $1 million in 2024. It will be the first dairy processing facility to be built from the ground up in Nebraska since 1963, according to the Nebraska State Dairy Association.