[BroJoeK]

from the article: "Environmental groups are pushing back against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration’s plan to support a growing yogurt industry by easing regulations on large-scale dairy operations."

FredZarguna: "Even by New York standards, 300 cows, while above average, is not a “large” dairy farm."

Right Wing Assault: "Cuomo, what are you doing helping business?"

muawiyah: "This is where Conservatism leaps in to protect the status quo, no matter how evil it might be, unless the Democrats and their running dog lackeys GIVE UP SOMETHING WE WANT!"

All this is not so difficult, once you see the basics:

• New York farming ranks 26th in the nation, employing over 100,000 people on 36,000 farms, with net sales around $4.5 billion.

• NY's 36,000 farms use around 7 million acres, or 200 acres per farm.
  NY farms use 25% of all NY land, and around 50% of tillable land.
  More than half of NY farms sales go to dairy products, for which NY is 4th in the nation (after California, Wisconsin & Idaho).
  No other NY agricultural products (i.e., grapes & other fruit) come even close.

• But contrast today's numbers to those of 130 years ago, when NY had 241,000 farms averaging around 50 acres per farm, and using virtually all land suited for farming.
  Today farms continue to decline by 200 per year, taking 60,000 acres out of farming.

• New York's average dairy farm has 133 cows, compared to 180 nation-wide, and over 1,000 per farm in states like California.

Bottom line: every year the total number of farms, farmers and cows declines, while milk production per cow increases.
So, farms which were once classified as "large" are now considered "small". Therefore, increasing New York's "small farm" limits from 200 to 300 cows is a more-or-less routine adjustment to changing economic reality.

Remember, farmers in general are natural Republicans -- you might say they are the base of our base -- unless we find new ways to abuse them, which let us pray, we will not ever do.

As for muawiyah extracting more concessions from Liberals, well, good luck with that, FRiend... ;-)

[muawiyah]

it’s all about YOGURT and that’s where we got New York’s politicians by the A$$.

[FredZarguna]

Remember, farmers in general are natural Republicans -- you might say they are the base of our base -- unless we find new ways to abuse them, which let us pray, we will not ever do.

I wish this were true.

But it isn't.

Most farmers say they're Republicans. But I can tell you from my personal experience of nearly 30 years writing software for farmers, farmers are on the government tit more than any other group. And like every group on the tit they have their own rationalizations for why in their case it's justified.

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to tell farmers in small operations in the upper Midwest and Northeastern United States that they need to get off the subsidies, which are destroying farms. I've preached this in milking parlors, hogbarns, DHIA banquets, Holstein Association Meetings, Extension presentations, and award ceremonies for AI studs. Because our subsidies are based on production, they reward large operators who already enjoy significant competitive advantages over family farms because of economies of scale and retail bargaining leverage.

You try to tell a small farmer that subsidies (of various kinds, some well disguised, some outright bribes) are the reason that so many people who aren't worth a crap as farmers are able to stay in business and drive down profitability for everyone, and their response universally is: "You can't take away our subsidies. We'll be ruined."

Sorry, buddy. I love farmers. I personally come from a long line of farmers, who've been in Southeastern PA since before there even was a United States of America, and since I left academia, writing software for farmers has been my life. But they're only our friends as long as they keep getting money from the government and you can't convince them otherwise. Just look at what happened to Republican Senators in the 1982 mid-terms, when Reagan tried to phase out subsidies or when Gingrich passed the Freedom to Farm Act. Those measures were repealed with an absolute vengence, and here we go, yet again, year after year, with a huge Farm Bill.