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New York Ag News Headlines |
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NY's Agriculture Commissioner Kicks Off Dairy Month
New York Ag Connection - 06/05/2023
New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball kicked off Dairy Month on Thursday at an elementary school for the first event in the department’s annual Dairy Education Days series.
As part of a collaboration with American Dairy Association North East (ADANE), the series brings members of the department to elementary school classrooms across the state to help kids learn about New York’s dairy industry, the largest segment of the state’s agricultural sector.
Other Dairy Month events and activities include Department tours of New York’s dairy farms and state-of-the-art dairy processing plants across the state, including in Western New York, and special promotions at Taste NY Markets around the state.
“New York state is home to some of the most hardworking dairy farmers and dairy manufacturers who are producing and processing some of the very best dairy products in the world,” Ball said.
Dairy Month is an opportunity to “celebrate this incredible sector of our industry, as well as introduce the next generation of leaders to the value of understanding where our food comes from,” he added.
Since the program’s launch in 2018, staff members from the state ag department have visited elementary and middle schools to help New York’s school children understand where their milk and dairy products come from. Educational materials for the schools and students, including giveaways, are provided by the ADANE. Department staff are visiting schools across the state this month to participate in this annual educational tradition.
Taste NY Markets and Welcome Centers throughout the state are celebrating Dairy Month by spotlighting different dairy producers in their regions and featuring a variety of delicious specials designed to encourage consumers to shop for local dairy products.
Promotions at the welcome centers include 10% off select brand dairy products, wine product and cheese pairings, free ice cream days, and more.
David Fisher, New York Farm Bureau president and dairy farmer, said, “New York dairy is not only the state’s number one agricultural commodity supporting thousands of jobs and our state’s economy, but it also provides healthy, nutritious products that feed our families. Our dairy farms continue to lead the way in animal care, environmental sustainability, and workforce development.”
New York’s dairy industry accounts for approximately one-half of New York’s total agricultural income. The state has nearly 3,200 dairy farms that produce more than 15 billion pounds of milk annually, making New York the nation’s fifth largest dairy state.
USDA’s ‘action plan’ on milk
The National Milk Producers Federation applauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture for proposing its “action plan” to move toward a national hearing based on NMPF’s proposal to modernize the federal milk marketing orders.
The largest representative of U.S. dairy farmers and farmer-owned dairy processors is eager to begin the next phase of creating a federal order system that better reflects today’s market conditions and dairy producer needs.
Source: oleantimesherald.com
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