ANCA examines Greek yogurt and its role in strengthening the dairy industry

This is an exciting time for dairy-based food production in New York State and for New York’s dairy farms, as the State has emerged as the national center for the production and distribution of Greek style yogurt, which requires significantly more fluid milk than standard yogurts.
Following an ANCA Board meeting on March 30 in Johnstown, ANCA directors and key staff were briefed by Michael Reese, President of the Fulton County Economic Development Corporation, and from the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets: Deputy Commissioner Matt Morgan; Casey McCue, Manager, Milk Control; and Charles Huff, Manager, Dairy Services. Patrick Hooker, Empire State Development’s Director of Agri-Business Development (and former Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Markets) also joined the discussion of dairy-based food production in and around our region.
Fage USA Dairy Industry Inc., a subsidiary of Fage Dairy Industry S.A. of Athens, Greece, is headquartered in Johnstown, Fulton County, within the ANCA region. Founded in 2000 to manufacture and distribute Greek style yogurt throughout the United States, Fage is undergoing a major expansion to double its production capacity.
Another major Greek yogurt producer, Agro Farma, Inc., produces its Chobani brand product for national distribution in Chenango Country, just beyond the ANCA region. Agro Farma is the parent company to Euphrates, Inc., a major producer of feta cheese which is also based in Johnstown. Both Fage and Agro Farma purchase a significant amount of their fluid milk from Adirondack North Country dairy farms. The two firms have a combined workforce of nearly 900 people.
The full economic impact of dairy production Statewide in 2010 was estimated at $8.5 billion based on New York’s production of over 12 billion pounds of milk.
In 2010, New York was fourth in the nation in milk production, behind California, Wisconsin and Idaho. Due to steadily growing food processing capacity in New York, expanded milk production is now able to be processed to a greater extent by New York companies rather than being shipped out-of-State. Over the five year period between 2006 and 2011, there was an over 13 percent decline in the amount of fluid milk shipped out-of-State for processing.
It is great news that New York is gaining employment and other economic benefits from better integration between its farm production and in-State, value-added food processing.
A growing manufacturing consumer of fluid milk in New York is its yogurt industry which nearly doubled its production between 2009 and 2011 to approximately 520 million pounds.
Of the State’s 10 largest dairy producing counties, four are located in the ANCA region (St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, and Oneida).