The Daily News (Batavia): State lawmakers from NYC float bill to limit size of dairy farms
June 7th, 2025
June 7, 2025
Article by Kori Sciandra and Alex Gault
Two state lawmakers from New York City want to ban dairy farms from expanding beyond 700 cows, a move they say would help protect the environment and preserve small, family-owned dairy farms.
Recently, Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, and state Sen. Jabari Brisport, D-Brooklyn, introduced a bill (A06928) that would bar the state Department of Environmental Conservation from issuing new Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation permits for large-scale dairies. A CAFO permit is required for any dairy with more than 300 cows, but the large-scale permit is required for any operation with more than 700 cows.
CAFOs are also issued for farms with 2,500 or more pigs or 1,000 or more veal calves, but a vast majority of CAFO permits in New York go to dairy farms.
Experts, advocates and farmers alike say the Brisport-Rosenthal bill would cut NY’s dairy industry off at the knees, hobbling new and existing farms from expanding beyond what they said is a relatively small number of cattle. They also said the lawmakers’ characterization of how the dairy industry in New York works is wildly inaccurate.
Rosenthal and Brisport, joined by advocates who also hailed from New York City, said the bill would prevent new “factory farms” from opening, which they said are widely polluting and damaging to the communities around them.
“These factory farms wreak havoc on the environment, they are also pretty much always in direct impact marginalizing communities, especially with the runoff, fumes, and the way they affect local waterways, and also the way they affect local economies,” Brisport said.
Brisport said these large-scale companies extract value from the communities that host them, whisking the money they generate away to corporate coffers hundreds of miles away, and said the scale of these operations is unsustainable.
“These big corporate farms house thousands of animals,” Rosenthal said. “They’re crammed into confined spaces, which has become a growing animal welfare concern. But the other side of it is the immense environmental damage these farms cause, in many cases, billion-dollar companies are running these factory farms.”
But that’s not true, according to farmers, agriculture experts and dairy advocates.
“My initial reaction to the proposed legislation reminded me of a Dwight D. Eisenhower quote which states, ‘Farming might look easy when your plow is a pencil, and you are a thousand miles from a cornfield.’ This is a classic case of New York City politicians reaching into an arena they more than likely know nothing about,” said Jack F. Klapper of Noblehurst Farms, Inc. and president of the Livingston County Farm Bureau.
GLOW region numbers
Klapper noted if the proposed legislation were to be implemented, the state dairy industry would take a huge hit as would GLOW region dairy farms.
“Dairy is the state’s largest agricultural sector and contributes roughly $3.9 billion annually. Not to mention the amount of ‘pass through dollars’ and jobs that get spent and created in our local communities because of these farms – for example, Landpro, Monroe Tractor, Delaval Dairy services etc.,” he said.
The GLOW region has 190 dairy farms, according to the 2022 New York Agricultural Census, including 61 farms, or 35.1%, that have 500 or more cows.
Among individual counties: Genesee has 40 dairy herds, of which 14, or 35%, have 500 or more cows; Livingston County has 42 dairy herds, including 19, or 45.2%%, with 500 or more cows; Orleans County has 18 dairy herds and 2, or 11.1%, of 500 or more cows; and Wyoming County has 90 dairy herds and 26, or 28.9%, of 500 or more cows.
The Ag Census reported 107,941 total milk cows in the GLOW region in 2022, an average of 568.1 per farm. Wyoming County had the highest population, 48,484 cows, followed by Genesee, 29,515; Livingston, 27,387; and Orleans, 2,555.
The 59 farms in Genesee, Livingston, and Wyoming counties with herds of 500 or more cows had an aggregate population of 84,913 cows, or an average of 1,439 cows, according to the census. Data for Orleans County farms with 500 or more cows was unavailable.
Klapper, who said he would be shocked if the proposed legislation gained any traction other than a few headline stories, believes the state should be promoting business growth.
“This shouldn’t be a big farm v. small farm thing. All farms are good and contribute to our local and state economies, and we should be encouraging innovation, efficiency and growth for all farmers,” he said.
Lawmakers unaware of Upstate economy
In the dairy industry, companies such as Great Lakes Cheese, Fairlife, and Chobani are all investing billions of dollars, according to Klapper.
“On the environmental side, we as farmers are stewards of our land and our animals, no one cares more about the land that we work on and the cows we take care of than we do because those two things take care of us and allow us to live our lives. Farmers are the ultimate recyclers,” he said.
JustinWilcox, executive director of UpstateUnited, emphasized the fact that two NYC lawmakers want to regulate the number of cows that comprise a dairy farm is one of the reasons why UpstateUnited, the leading advocacy voice for Upstate job creators, was created.
“…To speak out against poorly crafted policies driven by downstate legislators that impact the viability and success of Upstate families, industries and communities. They don’t have dairy farms in their districts, and legislation like this suggests that either they don’t care or are unaware of the industries that support Upstate‘s economy,” he said.
“More than 95% of New York’s farms are family owned,” he added. “At a time when New York State is making significant investments in major processors like Fairlife, Chobani and Cayuga Milk Ingredients, it makes absolutely no sense to restrict or limit the number of cows those farms can have when the milk they’re producing is needed for those companies to be successful.”
Chris Noble, owner and treasurer of the Noblehurst Farms in Linwood, said the last thing a family farm needs is more regulation restricting growth on a farm. With 3,000 acres and an 1,800-dairy cow operation, Noblehurst Farms, which sits on the corner of Genesee and Livingston counties, is well beyond the suggested limit of 700 cows in the proposed legislation.
If the bill were to pass, it would directly impact Noblehurst Farms, a seventh-generation farm.
“There are farms in Genesee, Livingston and Wyoming counties with way more cows than 700, and those operations are conducted in an environmentally responsible way,” Noble said.
Noble said he wasn’t sure why this proposed legislation was suggested at this time
“It’s downstate regulations that have the dairy industry riled up, locally. Especially with the plant in Webster (Fairlife) set to open soon, we should be focusing on expansion and producing more milk,” he said.
Lyman Rudgers, owner of Rudgers Registered Jerseys in Attica, milks 350 Registered Jersey dairy cattle.
“It wouldn’t affect our operation as we are well under that size,” he said. “However, it’s a ridiculous bill proposed by a New York City politician with a vendetta against animal ag. More of the same crap that the city pumps out.”
Farmers already face strict requirements
Allyson Jones-Brimmer, vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs for the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, said New York farms are overwhelmingly owned by families who have run farms for generations and are dedicated to responsible farming.
“Farm families have prided themselves for generations on a commitment to stewardship practices by caring for our animals, environment, and natural resources. Our dedication to continuous improvement is accomplished by utilizing scientific facts based on ongoing research and education,” she said.
According to Jones-Brimmer, dairy farms in New York with more than 300 cows are required to obtain and comply with an environmental conservation law permit, which is enforced by the state departments of Environmental Conservation and Health.
That permit, said Jones-Brimmer, “is more restrictive than federal regulations, with a strong focus on best management practices and nutrient management plans developed by certified professionals that are updated annually.”
Kirsten Workman, a nutrient and environmental sustainability specialist at the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Science’s PRO-DAIRY program, said that the state’s Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, or CAFO, program is one of the strongest in the nation, and it was created with environmental sustainability in mind.
“The CAFO permit is actually a clean water permit, so that entire program is really designed around protecting water quality and associated environmental impact as a result,” Workman said.
Federal requirements mandate that states regulate farms with more than 700 cows, but New York starts regulating at 300, and while federal requirements only mandate permits be obtained by farms that discharge runoff into nearby waterways, New York requires a permit for every dairy regardless of where their runoff goes.
Workman said the question of environmental protection is more complex than the idea that big farms are good and small farms are bad.
“It’s not about the size, it’s about the management,” she said. “We can have farms that are small and very environmentally friendly, and we can have farms that are large and very environmentally friendly. While the potential for impact may be bigger on a large farm, that doesn’t mean it’s inherently doing damage.”
Workman said the CAFO program is a very resilient one, with strict monitoring and management requirements that require the farms stick to strict environmental standards. She said most farmers who have larger operations hire dedicated consultants to handle the process, because it is strict.
‘A slap in the face’
State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, hosted a press conference Wednesday to voice the “frustration and anger” for both upstate legislators and New York’s farming community.
“This outrageous proposal is a slap in the face to every hardworking dairy farmer in New York. It’s yet another example of radical New York City lawmakers trying to control an industry they know nothing about,” Borrello said. “These farms aren’t factory operations; they’re family businesses built over generations.”
New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher, who also attended the press conference, noted the dairy industry plays a critical role in the state’s ranking as the fifth-largest dairy producer in the nation.
“Our dairy farmers represent a long tradition of family farms and are the cornerstone of agriculture in the Empire State. We as a state should be doing whatever we can to support these hardworking, dedicated farmers so they can preserve and grow their farms for the next generation,” said Fisher.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia, said the bill would put an unnecessary burden on local farms and hurt the state’s agriculture industry. He said the bill would push more dairy farmers out of business, noting that from 1997 to 2022 the number of dairy operations has decreased from 9,300 to about 3,000.
Hawley said the proposal would accelerate that decline.
“As a former farmer myself, the assertion that our local farms are destroying our environment is completely ridiculous. Working families across our state rely on our dairy farms for their basic necessities, and this proposal will only bring up costs and reduce availability,” said Hawley.
Jay Matteson, agriculture coordinator for Jefferson County, said most of New York’s farms are not owned by faceless corporations; they’re owned by families.
“People look at dairy farms, they see it’s owned by an LLC, and they assume it’s a corporate-owned farm,” he said. “The corporation is owned by the family that’s been on the farm for generations, they’re just being smart businesspeople and protecting their assets.”
Happy cows
Brisport and Rosenthal said that large farms are unduly cruel to their animals, packing thousands into cramped and unhygienic conditions, but Workman said that’s just not the case.
“Farms are not ever served well by treating their animals poorly,” said Workman, of Cornell’s PRO-DAIRY program. “Happy cows make more and higher quality milk.”
Workman said as the New York dairy industry has grown and morphed over the last century, resources and land use have stayed fairly balanced. She noted NY is well-suited to dairy farming, as its natural environment allows farmers to grow the crops they feed their animals on-site rather than importing feed. And there’s plenty of open space in rural upstate NY, numerous clean water sources and a long history of investment in the industry.
“The land base tends to match cow numbers, and part of that is this CAFO permit,” Workman said.
Workman said larger dairies also have better margins for operating revenues and can afford to do things such as invest in more efficient, more environmentally-friendly methods, and can assign more specialized work to the people running the farm.
New York is on track to at least double demand for fluid milk in the next three to five years. Billions of dollars of private investment are going to a half dozen major expansion or new construction projects across the state.
Chobani, the yogurt and dairy product company that started in upstate NY in 2005, broke ground on a new, $1.5 billion facility in Oneida County earlier this spring that, once completed, will be the largest natural food processing plant in the country. That project, combined with a Fairlife milk plant being built in WNY, an expansion at the Great Lakes Cheese facility in Western New York and a handful of other projects across upstate, industry experts anticipate there will be demand for at least 7 billion more pounds of liquid milk per year once everything is running at capacity. New York currently makes somewhere around 16 billion pounds of milk a year.
Both Brisport and Rosenthal represent districts without a single dairy farm, representing some of the most densely populated urban neighborhoods in the country in NYC.
On Wednesday, May 21, they said they had not talked with members of their chambers who do represent dairy-producing districts about their bill.
“We just launched,” Rosenthal said in response to a reporter’s question.
“But we’re eager to hear their thoughts,” Brisport added.
Matteson extended an offer to both lawmakers come to Jefferson County, meet a farmer and see one of the operations they call a “factory farm.”
“Come on up to Jefferson County, we’ll host you,” he said. “Embrace the moo. Learn about farming.”
The Brisport-Rosenthal bill may not see much movement through the state legislature this year. The bill has been referred to the Environmental Committee of both the Assembly and Senate but has not been subject to any votes.