NORWICH – Chenango County’s dairy farmers are in the spotlight thanks to the delicious taste of Chobani yogurt and local officials say the attention warrants taking a leadership role in the creation of a statewide strategy for the industry.
Earlier this week, supervisors who sit on the Ag, Buildings and Grounds Committee adopted a draft resolution that encourages Gov. Andrew Cuomo to develop a plan to produce enough milk to supply not only Chobani in the town of Columbus, but all of New York’s dairy foods processors.
“Because we have Chobani here, people expect us to exert some kind of leadership ... We need to be the first one. The goal is for us to be the start of the snowball,” said Chenango County Cornell Cooperative Extension Director Ken Smith.
Smith offered the draft legislation, which will be taken up by the full board next month, in the wake of Governor Cuomo’s surprise announcement last week that costly feedlot permits on herds of more than 200 cows would be cut. The development is expected to save dairy farmers as much as $2,000 per cow that would be otherwise be spent on environmentally compliant infrastructure when growing their herds.
New York Farm Bureau predicts that New York’s dairy farmers must be able to expand their output by 15 percent in order to take advantage of the opportunity that Greek yogurt presents for the state’ farmers, so the governor’s action is expected to open the gates for immediate expansion.
But Cornell’s Smith said what is really needed is a comprehensive plan like Wisconsin’s so-called “30 by 20” goal, or statewide plan to achieve annual milk production of 30 billion pounds of milk by 2020. Milk production per cow can be increased with so called ‘cow comforts’ like larger barns and manure pits.
The plan brings together the industry, the state, farmers and educational institutions to grow Wisconsin’s dairy output over the long-term. It identifies loans and grants available to producers and beginning farmers, and outlines management and operational systems, business and legal structures, and herd health and milk production services.
“We think New York State should form a similar plan that benefits both the manufacturers and the farmers. It’s a model that we should at least form a committee, an ag development committee, to see it if will work for us. The state needs to form a consensus. Ag and Markets, Farm Bureau, the Cuomo Adminstration, dairy cooperatives ... they all need to get in the same room and all decide what’s best in New York State,” said Smith.
Town supervisors on the committee lamented the federal pricing system for milk and the need for government subsidies and programs, saying the market of supply and demand should create a milk premium. Smithville Supervisor Fred J. Heisler, Jr. asked why the price up milk can’t just be raised.
“I’m still having trouble seeing that a bigger barn, and bigger space comes from out of another’s pocket?” he said.
Committee Chairman Charles A. Mastro, R-Sherburne, himself a producer, worried that smaller operations wouldn’t benefit from the plan.
“Expenses are going crazy. The cost of production keeps going up. My conclusion is that some farmers such as myself will be left behind,” Mastro said.
Smith said the Wisconsin plan applies to farms of all sizes, but acknowledged that producers are being asked to take on “an economic risk for the benefit of yogurt manufacturers.”
“A lot can be done without raising the federal price, such as more cow comforts. They can equal more production, as much as 10 percent more ... But that comes at a cost, but there are planning grants for larger barns ... A manure pit can cost $300,000. You can’t build that without a subsidy. This plan can facilitate people making plans for themselves,” Smith said.
Otselic Supervisor Evan T. Williams commented, “Supply and demand should drive the price, but that’s not the way it is when big government sticks their foot in it.”
“Processors don’t have to raise their minimum price, that’s the problem,” said Mastro. “Subsidies come from taxpayers, but some should come from the processors.”
Meanwhile, Chenango County Farm Bureau President Bradd Vickers warns that the nation’s food supply is at risk while state representatives stall on the farm bill, which expires Sept. 30. Members of the U.S. Senate have given it the go ahead, but instead of taking the five-year-old farm up in the House, state legislators are on hiatus. “It could be dead in the water until after the election,” said Vickers.
“It (the farm bill ) assists in some aspects of benefiting price and programs ... Not passing the farm bill will compound the problems (inherent in the federally-controlled pricing system) and make it even worse than it was,” he said.
“We are talking about the nation’s food supply here, not some company making widgets. We are talking about the quality of our food and the available of it to eat down the road. Once these farms are gone and the land subdivided, people need to realize they aren’t going to be brought back to farming,” said Vickers.