Manitoba milk producers are going to have a new home.

Dairy Farmers of Manitoba has decided on a new 15,800-square-foot office building to replace the current 22-year-old one located in south Winnipeg.

DFM’s annual meeting last week passed a resolution to construct a new $5-million facility to house the milk board’s office, warehouse and milk-testing laboratory. The vote was 52-2 in favour.

DFM will budget for a building costing $4.5 million and a land price of $500,000, chairman David Wiens told the meeting.

The location is not settled but Wiens said DFM is negotiating with the Red River Exhibition for a site on the west side of Winnipeg.

The milk board has also looked at possible sites on Pembina Highway and in Headingley but prefers the Red River Ex site, he said.

Construction could begin in 2011 once the land deal is complete.

Wiens said the DFM board considered renovating and expanding the existing building on Scurfield Boulevard but decided against it.

Realtors put the value of the current building at $1.6 million. It would be sold and the proceeds applied to the cost of the new building, said Wiens.

The idea of a new office has been on the horizon for a while. DFM presented it to district producer meetings earlier this year and met little opposition.

Beerd Hop, a producer from Tolstoi, said milk producers sometimes carry out on-farm renovations costing even more than the proposed DFM building, so there should be no problem with it.

“It seems like a no-brainer to me,” Hop said. [email protected]