Top Dairy Farmers Co-Op Defends Purchase of Bankrupt Dean Foods

Dairy Farmers of America Inc., the U.S.'s top milk producer, defended its $433 million acquisition of Dean Foods Co., the country’s largest milk processor, against an antitrust challenge filed in North Carolina federal court after the Justice Department approved the deal.

The plaintiff, a regional co-op, “is not worried about reduced competition in the raw milk market,” DFA says in court papers filed Monday. “Instead it is worried about having to compete with a more efficient, vertically integrated cooperative in the market where its farmer-members are located.”

The lawsuit narrowly targets several Dean plants in North and South ...