Once again that huge, elitist tail that is New York City is wagging the sad emaciated body that is upstate New York. You may have read in a recent OBSERVER article that Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal who represents the Upper West Side of Manhattan and part of Hell’s Kitchen has teamed up with Democratic State Sen. Jabari Brisport who represents the 25th Senate District in Brooklyn to push legislation that would prevent the Department of Environmental Conservation from issuing new permits for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs that have 700 or more cows.

New York is fifth in milk production in the nation with over 630,000 dairy cows providing that milk. Wyoming County with 47,500 dairy cows has more cows than people. Dairy cows and hard working farmers on dairy farms produce 16.1 billion pounds of milk per year. A large portion of that milk goes into the production of several milk based products that include yogurt, cheese and sour cream where New York leads the nation in production.

The rationale behind the bill according to its sponsors is concern over the environmental impact of large dairy farms on the environment because of questions about manure management and potential water pollution. Brisport added that large industrial scale operations hurt the small farmers. What do farmers and farm organizations have to say about this legislation?

Farmers use manure that is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium primarily as a fertilizer that can be used to fertilize their corn, alfalfa and hay fields reducing the need for expensive synthetic fertilizers. Also, some dairy farms use anaerobic digesters to convert manure into biogas, which can be used to generate electricity, heat, and even biodiesel. Livingston County farmer Jack Klapper stated that on his farm their methane digester utilizes manure and food scraps that would otherwise end up in landfills to generate electric power to run the farm and could even power 300 to 500 homes.

Because between 94% and 98% of New York state dairy farms are family owned this would indicate that a large percentage of the large dairy operations are in reality family owned. The majority of large dairy farms are not managed by faceless executives representing faceless corporations but by families, some with a history of 200 years in dairy farming, who decided to get bigger. While they might spend some time at a desk with their laptop in the morning and again in the evening they are in the barns when the cows are milked.

The New York Farm Bureau has said that the bill is redundant because the existing state permit program is already more stringent than federal regulations and fully address the environmental aspects of the proposed bill. Further the bill could negatively impact local economies by restricting production and the ability for family owned farms to grow. Finally, the Farm Bureau feels that limiting large scale dairy farms could result a shortage of supply for the dairy foods industry

The number of family owned dairy farms is diminishing but that is true of all types of farming. An important factor is our aging farm population with many nearing retirement age and whose children who might have succeeded them are leaving the family farm and pursuing other careers. Many farmers have their wealth tied up in their land, cows, and business making it difficult to retire without selling the farm.

Another reason for the decreasing number of family farms is over regulation by the state. Many feel that this is the case of the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act that was sponsored by Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan representing New York City and State Sen. Jessica Ramos representing Queens. This law which took effect on January 1, 2020, ignored the special nature of farm work and granted farm workers overtime pay for hours worked over 60 hours gradually reducing to 40 hours by 2032, a day of rest each week, disability and paid family leave coverage, and unemployment benefits.

Imagine if the bill preventing the issuance of CAFOs were to pass. Production of milk in New York would likely fall substantially, necessitating that the producers of yogurt, sour cream and cheese go outside the state for milk or perhaps even more likely move to the areas where milk would be available. Were that to happen those jobs in the dairy industry would be lost becoming another chapter in the continuing story of New York State over regulation leading to the loss of jobs.

The proposed bill is the work of two legislators from New York City. There are no dairy farms in their districts, and it is more than likely that they have never spoken to a farmer, understand the problems faced by dairy farms or even set foot on one. It is also obvious that they do not understand the importance of the dairy industry to the upstate economy and probably don’t care. This bill says more about its authors’ climate alarmist concerns than their concern for the small farmer. This proposed legislation should never see the light of day.

Tom Kirkpatrick is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com.