ALBANY, N.Y. – The Northeast Dairy Producers Association (NEDPA) and New York State Farm Bureau are among the organizations that participated in a press conference held June 4 by Assemblyman Chris Tague and Senator George Borello to oppose legislation that has been proposed to ban the expansion of family dairy farms.

This, on the heels of new plants increasing the demand for milk in New York State, including Chobani’s announced new dairy processing plant and natural foods campus in Rome, along with the Fairlife plant under construction near Webster, and the Great Lakes Cheese plant that opened last year in Franklinville.

The legislation — proposed by downstate state lawmakers from boroughs of New York City, Brooklyn, and Manhattan — would limit the size of upstate dairy farms to 700 cows.

In the Empire State, farms with more than 700 cows must apply for a large-scale permit. This bill would ban the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation from “issuing or authorizing any more of these permits” to farms with 700 or more dairy cows.

The bill lists these farms as “factory farms,” stating they “have numerous detrimental impacts to the environment… release significant amounts of methane … and harm the surrounding air quality.”

This is a wake up call not just for New York State, but all of dairy and animal agriculture in America, especially throughout the populous eastern U.S.

“Dairy farmers are the original stewards of our natural resources. Regardless of farm size, 95% of our farms are family owned and operated. For generations, they have been committed to continuous improvement in caring for the environment, their animals and their local communities,” stated farmers representing NEDPA at the press conference on the Capitol steps.

“We aim to work collaboratively with legislators across the state to ensure a future that allows New York’s family farms to continue to provide for New York families.”

Dairy farmers – large and small – are opposing this legislation, and it is critical that farms of all sizes, and the organizations that represent them, work together to end its chances because such a bill would be the beginning of the end of dairy farming in New York State.

One need look no further than Senate Bill 6530’s prime sponsor, New York State Senator Jabari Brisport. He is not simply a practicing vegan proclaiming concern for the environment. No, he wants to accomplish much, much more. This is just the beginning.

Sen. Brisport has unapologetically come out on record “wishing death” to New York’s dairy industry. His motives are quite clear. He wants to end animal agriculture, starting with the dairy farms. Any lawmaker supporting this measure appears to agree.

Assemblyman Tague was correct to call the bill “an attack on the state’s family farms.”

At his press conference, Tague stated that, “It’s written by people who have never milked a cow, never walked a pasture. Capping a farm at 700 cows is not just arbitrary, it’s ignorant. It punishes family farms who are trying to survive. And many already surpass this random made-up number while successfully meeting the state’s regulations of herd, land and product management.”

Let’s rewind four years for the additional context…

In the March 12, 2021 edition, Farmshine ran an article about a State Senate Ag Committee listening session held virtually during the pandemic and organized by the Committee’s chairwoman Sen. Michelle Hinchey, back when Sen. Brisport was the Ag Committee’s newest member.

Agricultural law attorney and dairy farmer Lorraine Lewandrowski of Herkimer County, New York, testified at that session and she was clear, concise, frank and prophetic.

Her testimony was a harbinger of things to come that all should today be heeding, as this proposed bill would truly “throw away” New York’s rural communities and bring in food and milk from “far away sources.”

“Danger knocked on New York’s doors when the World Trade Centers went down. Hunger knocked hard on our doors during Covid. Our food model is based on far away sources while we throw our rural communities away.

“Farmers here are asking for crumbs. The big money is in the port capacity being ramped up for imports,” Lewandrowski testified to the NYS Senate Ag Committee on Feb. 12, 2021.

In her final thoughts, she turned to the rural trauma she sees in her work. She addressed Sen. Brisport of Brooklyn about his own comments as a vegan activist, and the damage they do to New York’s own farmers and rural communities.

“Rural New York has been viciously neglected. When farmers come to my office and tell me they feel dead, I worry,” Lewandrowski stated. “This is directed to Senator Brisport: Senator, I heard your words as you led a rally in New York City calling for New York’s dairy farms to die. Your exact words were: ‘Let dairy die the death it needs to die.’ Two hundred miles away, I was dealing with a woman who found her son hanging dead in the barn, too ashamed to speak of his death.

“Senator Brisport, I will not forget your cruel words directed to the working farmers of this state whom I know and love,” she continued in that 2021 testimony to the Senate Ag Committee. Dairywoman Tammy Gendron of Willet also referenced concerns about Sen. Brisport’s activism against dairy and livestock production in her comments later in the session.

During questions, Senator Brisport apologized for his word choice of “death” when speaking about dairy at the vegan rally, but he nonetheless re-stated that as a sitting State Senator on the Ag Committee: “I don’t believe dairy should exist, just as I don’t believe any animal agriculture should exist …”

There you have it. Dairy and livestock farmers across New York State should take this proposed Senate bill very seriously because – regardless of size – Sen. Brisport and friends believe your farms, your cattle, your livestock, your industry, your communities should not exist. That is the end game.

The bill to limit the number of cows on farms is currently in the Environmental Conservation Committees in the Assembly and Senate.