Mayfield Dairy Farms manufactures milk for McDonald’s, ice cream for Baskin-Robbins and buttermilk for Cracker Barrel restaurants. The Tennessee-based dairy has expanded to Florida and Louisiana.

Dairy Foods has selected Chicago-based fairlife LLC as the 2015 Processor of the Year. fairlife created a proprietary ultra-filtration process that boosts the natural protein and calcium found in milk and reduces its natural sugars.

U.S. dairy processor HP Hood buys La Terra Fina, a maker of refrigerated dips and quiches.

Aurora Organic Dairy has reduced its shuttling of products to and from cold storage by 90% by opening a new energy-efficient plant in Platteville, Colo.

Land O' Lakes Inc. has worked to reduce its environmental footprint through resource conservation, transportation, logistics and manufacturing efficiencies, and renewable energy on the farm, according to the company's 2014 Corporate Responsibility report.

Dairy processors reduce their costs and environmental footprints in a number of ways. Hilmar Cheese received a U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award for its efforts. Land O’Lakes and Aurora Organic have their own approaches.