You won't find any fancy-looking equipment at the creamery operated by Phoenix-based Danzeisen Dairy LLC. Tucked into a mixture of farm, industrial and residential properties in Phoenix's Laveen neighborhood, the creamery relies on retrofitted vintage milk processing equipment, much of it from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and all of it from U.S. manufacturers, to produce its craft dairy products.

A growing number of food and beverage processors claim to be part of the local food movement. But for many of them, the definition of "local" is a bit of a stretch.

As the company prepares to build a new processing facility, one that will more than double its current 16,000 square feet to approximately 40,000 square feet, it is working to maximize production rates and efficiencies at the Marshall, Calif., plant in which it has been operating since the company’s inception in 1994.

The dairy processor is striving to be a role model for supporting local family farms and preserving the environment.

Clover Sonoma’s four brand-new 50,000-gallon stainless steel milk silos hover over the landscape in Petaluma, Calif. Before entering the dairy plant, one can get a window – literally – into the operation.

Maryland's Kilby family has been farming for 100 years. To position itself for success into the next century, it built a dairy processing plant that bottles milk and churns ice cream under the name Kilby Cream.

Modesto-based Foster Farms Dairy, founded in 1941, knows a thing or two about names and brands. In 2007, it acquired Crystal Creamery of Sacramento, which traces its roots to 1901. Two years later, Foster acquired Fortuna-based Humboldt Creamery, which dates to the 1920s.