Yogurt Empire State
Dairy product fact of the day: New York was the nation's top producer of yogurt in 2012, the Cuomo admin reports.
Producers in the Empire State turned out 692 million pounds of yogurt in 2012 -- up almost 25 percent over the year before. That pushed New York ahead of California, whose production fell almost 7 percent. Ferment that, Golden State.
New York's rise to the top is in large part due to the Greek-style yogurt boom. Chobani, the #1 brand of that type, has a large plant outside Oneonta -- that facility alone produces about half of the yogurt in the state* and consumes 10 percent of all the milk produced by New York dairy farms. And Fage -- the #2 Greek-style brand -- has a plant in Johnstown. And there are more plants in western New York. [USA Today] [Fage]
As the state's yogurt production surges, the state's milk production is having a hard time keeping up -- in part because of the costs of expanding dairy herds and regulations on milk pricing. The situation even has a name: "The Chobani Paradox." The milk crunch was one of the reasons Chobani built a new plant in Idaho. [WSJ] [Food Engineering Mag]
The situation has prompted state leaders to look for ways to help dairy farms expand. Example: Chuck Schumer has proposed federal tax breaks ( not without criticism) and immigration reform (to help dairy farms with workforce issues). And today the Cuomo admin announced it was relaxing some environmental rules on the number of cows that can be kept at large feeding operations. [Chuck Schumer office] [NYDN] [Slate] [Chuck Schumer office]
By the way: Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya is scheduled to be the speaker at the Sage Colleges' commencement in May.
* Estimate is based on production figures from USA Today and NYT in 2012.
Earlier and elsewhere:
+ Businessweek profile of Hamdi Ulukaya, which declares Upstate New York "the Silicon Valley of Yogurt"
+ Upstate is yogurt country
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Comments
I wish I could feel this was a 100% win-win. Relaxing environmental rules is not good for New Yorkers.
From the Huffington Post, 1/24/2013 --
"...the Sierra Club and other groups said the proposal [to relax environmental rules] would likely add 25,000 cows to New York's dairy herd, resulting in more than 3 million additional pounds of urine and feces produced each day. 'Without doubt, some of this urine and feces will pollute surface and groundwater and air.' The groups, which also include Riverkeeper, Waterkeeper Alliance, Earthjustice, Environmental Advocates and Citizens Campaign for the Environment, contend the proposed deregulation is a violation of the federal Clean Water Act ..."
Note: fecal pollution is how e coli gets spread to our food supply.
As for Chobani, the company has been fined for illegally pumping water and worker safety violations.
See http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Yogurt-maker-to-pay-water-fine-4125282.php
... said chrisck on Apr 18, 2013 at 5:26 PM | link
@ chrisck: I hear what you're saying, but I think it's something of a step forward when we move from talking about pollution by chemicals we can't even spell to talking about water rights and cow waste. (almost a step backwards you might say)
... said Eric Scheirer Stott on Apr 19, 2013 at 9:35 AM | link
This really burns me up to hear the complaints about cow manure. Cow manure also equals biogas, and NY would do well to look at what other states and countries are doing with it.
Maybe a little State leadership and incentives would help?
... said ChuckD on Apr 19, 2013 at 4:11 PM | link