PALMER — The manager of a fledgling dairy cooperative says the venture could begin producing cheese from Mat-Su Valley milk products by mid-December.

Former dairy farmer Kyle Beus said the co-op has found a building suitable for a production plant and processing equipment is on its way. Topping the co-op’s list of concerns now is the potential for a lag between the scheduled Dec. 10 shutdown of Matanuska Maid Dairy and the startup of the new production facility. During any gap local dairy farmers would have no place to sell their milk.

A meeting that begins before sunrise Sunday may help determine whether the sun is setting on the Valley’s dairy industry. The state’s Creamery Board and Board of Agriculture and Conservation’s unusual 8 a.m. meeting with dairy producers and potential milk and cheese processors may decide the level of state support for the co-op, for now organized as the Southcentral Alaska Dairy Joint Venture. The co-op is seeking to use the Matanuska Maid label and some of the operation’s old processing equipment as well as a four- to five-day extension on the final pickup date for milk, set now as Dec. 8 or Dec. 9.

Beus wouldn’t discuss specifics of what the co-op is seeking from the state, but said decisions delayed beyond Sunday will further endanger family farms — and not only dairy farms. Beus said a tremendous amount of goodwill and cooperation exists between dairy, hay and barley farmers, and others who rely on each other to keep the agriculture industry alive in Alaska.

“I think everybody, the dairy farmers in the state, the barley farmers, the hay farmers ... we need to have some decisions made so we can continue to work at lightning speed,” Beus said.

Somewhere between 50 and 60 percent of the milk market dries up by Dec. 9 under current plans when the state-owned Mat Maid dairy makes its last scheduled pickup of Valley milk products for processing. The books are closing; the dairy will sell next month and farmers are nervous.

Northern Lights Dairy in Delta Junction will continue to purchase 40 to 50 percent of the area’s milk products, Beus said.

Beus added things are moving along well enough for the new dairy cooperative to feel optimistic.

“Looks like we have a deal being completed as we speak on a building,” Beus said. “Equipment we don’t have we’re getting on the road.”

While there’s no way the cooperative could produce milk by Dec. 10, Beus said it could begin by Dec. 14 or 15. Farmers would like to see Mat Maid extend its pickup cutoff by four to five days to give the co-op more time to get a limited production plant on line.

Ag and Creamery Board chair Kristan Cole said she has asked Mat Maid management about the feasibility of extending the deadline by a few days but did not immediately know whether that is possible. Cole said plans must be made for when production will end so the dairy can be ready to pick up expired milk from merchants and issue appropriate credits before the dairy shuts down.

“They can certainly ask us on Sunday,” Cole said.

Dairy farmer Bob Havemeister, a signer to the co-op agreement, seemed cautiously optimistic Thursday. “I think we can pull it together,” he said.

The state Creamery Board and the Board of Agriculture and Conservation, which are the same in composition, each voted recently to reserve the Matanuska Maid logo for future use only by an entity that produces 100 percent Alaska-grown dairy products.

The Creamery Board meets at 8 a.m. Sunday in Palmer at the Department of Natural Resources Division of Agriculture building, 1800 Glenn Highway, Suite 12. The Board of Agriculture and Conservation meets immediately after the creamery board.