Prairie Farms Family of Companies Wins Big at 2026 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest
Prairie Farms and Hiland collectively take home 12 first-place awards and 47 awards in total.
EDWARDSVILLE, IL — September 10, 2026 — The Prairie Farms Family of Companies earned 47 awards, including 12 first-place honors, at the 2026 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest, recognizing quality across a wide range of dairy products and manufacturing facilities.
Prairie Farms Dairy received 28 awards, Hiland Dairy earned 18, and Belfonte Dairy received one. Together, the companies captured 12 first-place, 18 second-place, and 17 third-place finishes in categories ranging from cheese and fluid milk to cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream, dips, and frozen desserts.
“This recognition reflects the commitment to quality that begins with our dairy farm families and extends through every one of our plants and teams,” said Matt McClelland, CEO of the Prairie Farms Family of Companies. “To have products from so many categories and locations recognized as among the best in the world is something our entire organization can be proud of. These awards represent the care, consistency, and craftsmanship our employees bring to the products that families enjoy every day.”
Among the Prairie Farms Family of Companies’ first-place winners were:
- Blue Veined Cheeses, 1st place: Caves of Faribault AmaBlu Blue Cheese, Prairie Farms Dairy, Faribault, Minnesota.
- White Milk (2% Only), 1st place: Hiland Dairy, Conroe,
- Fat Free Chocolate Milk, 1st place: Prairie Farms, Rockford,
- Strawberry Milk, 1st place: Prairie Farms, Carlinville,
- Cultured Milk, 1st place: Hiland Dairy Bulgarian Style Buttermilk, Fort Smith,
- UHT Milk & Aseptic Milk (White), 1st place: Prairie Farms 2% Reduced Fat Milk UHT, Granite City, Illinois.
- Lactose-Free Milk (White), 1st place: Hiland Dairy Lactose-Free Vitamin D Milk, Dallas, Texas.
- Blueberry Yogurt, 1st place: Hiland Dairy Blueberry Yogurt, Wichita,
- Low-Fat and No-Fat Cottage Cheese, 1st place: Prairie Farms 2% Small Curd Cottage Cheese, Quincy, Illinois.
- Open Cottage Cheese, 1st place: Hiland Dairy 1% Cottage Cheese, Wichita,
- Low-Fat Sour Cream, 1st place: Hiland Dairy Lite Sour Cream, Omaha,
- Sour Cream-Based Onion Dips, 1st place: Prairie Farms French Onion Dip, Carbondale, Illinois.
Several categories delivered especially strong results for the family of companies. In the White Milk (2% Only) category, Hiland Dairy plants in Conroe, Texas, and Wichita, Kansas, earned first and second place, while Prairie Farms Dairy in Olney, Illinois, finished third. Prairie Farms Dairy also swept the Fat Free Chocolate Milk category with products from Rockford, Illinois; Anderson, Indiana; and Dubuque, Iowa.
Hiland Dairy also placed across a broad range of fluid and cultured dairy categories, including chocolate milk, low-fat chocolate milk, buttermilk, lactose-free milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, dips, drinkable yogurt, ice cream, and sherbet. Hiland Dairy’s Kansas City, Missouri, facility earned third place in Class 304 – Lowfat Chocolate Milk (2%) for its 2% Chocolate Milk.
Prairie Farms Dairy earned additional recognition for Swiss cheese, cold pack cheese, chocolate and strawberry milk, UHT and lactose-free milk, whipping cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, dips, and frozen novelties. Belfonte Dairy earned second place for Raspberry Sherbet.
The complete list of Prairie Farms Family of Companies winners, including product, placement, and production location, is available at PrairieFarms.com
The World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest recognizes outstanding dairy products across numerous categories, including cheese, milk, cultured products, and frozen desserts.
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About the Prairie Farms Family of Companies
Prairie Farms is one of the largest and most successful dairy cooperatives operating in the Midwest and South. The cooperative includes more than 500 farm families, 7,000 associates, 48 manufacturing plants, and over 100 distribution facilities, with annual sales exceeding $4.69 billion. Prairie Farms is a nationally recognized leader in the dairy industry, setting the standard for milk flavor innovations and producing award-winning milk, cheese, and cultured dairy products. With headquarters in Edwardsville, Ill., Prairie Farms’ distribution footprint covers over 30 percent of the United States. For more information, visit www.prairiefarms.com(opens in new tab).
Hiland Dairy is a leading farmer-owned dairy foods company headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. Hiland’s widely loved products include milk, dips, cottage cheese, flavored milk, sour cream, yogurt, ice cream, butter, cheese, and eggnog. The company also produces and distributes other beverages such as Red Diamond Tea, lemonade, and fresh juices. Hiland employs 4,000 people across Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Hiland’s milk comes from local farmer-owners just miles from its processing plants, where it goes from farm to shelf within 48 hours. Learn more at www.hilanddairy.com(opens in new tab).
