New York’s small dairy farms are always in danger of financial ruin–through natural disasters and other challenges to the small herds that keep them in business.
But the federal government’s newly-passed farm bill should go a long way toward helping them–
If the farmers can get some help in learning how to take advantage of it:
That’s what New York Senator Charles Schumer says he’s trying to do..
Schumer was at the Van Althuis dairy farm in Sherburne Monday.
While there, he said he wants the U.S. Department of Agriculture to set aside six million dollars for farmer education on programs and enrollment in dairy support programs:
Schumer said, “We rely on our dairy farms for our cheese producers, our booming Greek yogurt industry, as I mentioned here in Chenango, we have Chobani, Fiyeh, Alpina, Quaker, and creameries and cheese producers need milk from places like these farms”
The dairy support program helps protect farmers from income loss from milk prices.
The protection is aimed at small, family-run dairy farms with 200 cows or less.