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Fun Parts of Dairy Day at the State Fair Hide Challenges in Dairy Industry

The cows responsible for helping to produce Milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream are the stars on the 40th Anniversary of Dairy Day at the New York State Fair.  Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball says the Fair showcases the importance of the industry and how it touches the world.

“It’s obvious at the Fair.  You look at the butter sculpture, you can walk through the barns see the cows, go to the birthing tent.  You come face to face with agriculture.”

Farmers across the state have been plagued by a drought this summer.  Fortunately, Ball explains that some farmers in Central New York were spared.  He says challenges lie ahead for the dairy commodities industry but, it still remains a top producer of the state’s agriculture.

“A lot of our industries, not just dairy, but in particular for dairy because the price of mild right now is quite low, most of our farmers are operating at below the cost of production because there’s a surplus of milk nationally and globally.”

A main supplier for Chobani Yogurt is Mar-Stan Farms complete with 80 dairy cows.  Stanley Davis says with more supply than demand for Milk, shelf prices means they lose money nearly every month.

“2014 was a good year, milk prices were up (to) 22-23 dollars (per hundred weight) and we were catching up on some bills, then it took a dive and we lost about 30% of our income, so it’s been that way ever since.”

Milk prices are now at around 15 dollars (cwt). 

The cheese industry on the other hand is doing well.  Henry Mapes is the Plant Manager for Agri-Mark, the manufacturer of Cabot and McAdams Cheese

“We have wonderful farmers.  We have a very clean and good milk supply.  We just won a gold medal in the American Cheese Society for our muenster, so it’s not just cheddar cheese that we excel at.”

The company won in five out of six medals today at Dairy Day in the aged and super-aged cheddar cheese categories.  They have plants in Northern New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts.  

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.