LOWVILLE — New York state is pushing more than $21 million in grant money out to more than 100 dairy farms statewide, part of a long-term push to enhance and expand the state’s upstate milk and milk product industry.
On Monday at Glory Days dairy farm in Lowville, state Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball announced the funding through the state Dairy Modernization Grant program as the state kicked off June Dairy Month.
“New York’s dairy industry is the backbone of our agricultural economy, supporting thousands of jobs across our rural communities,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul. The governor says she successfully pushed for the program in budget negotiations last year.
“With this $26 million investment through the Dairy Modernization Grant Program, we’re giving hardworking dairy farmers and cooperatives the tools they need to grow, innovate and lead in a changing market. This is how we honor our agricultural legacy — by making sure it has a strong and sustainable future,” Hochul said.
Across Western New York, 13 farms were awarded a total of more than $2.7 million. In central New York will get more than $3.9 million, and in the Finger Lakes, 20 farms are getting more than $4.3 million.
The money can be used for projects on dairy farms to expand or improve storage, improve transportation and strengthen operations — it helps farmers buy newer, more efficient equipment and is run with an eye towards increasing environmental protection, efficiency and farm operation health. The program requires that each grant-funded project demonstrate a path towards expanding storage, increasing energy efficiency, improving food safety, saving work hours, decreasing raw milk dumping or making the farm more resilient economically. Each project must achieve at least two of those listed goals.
“The Dairy Modernization Grant Program gives farms like ours the opportunity to progress and innovate and continue being the lifeblood of our communities,” said Amy Beyer, owner of Glory Days Farm. “This program encourages the adoption of efficient technology that improves food safety with more consideration to environmental impacts, securing the future of dairy in New York.”
This new grant program is authorized for another $10 million round in 2026 — and Hochul indicated that further funding will be headed to the dairy industry for research and climate-resiliency work in the future.
“Our dairy farmers and processors are second to none when it comes to the care they give to the land and their animals and the quality of their milk products,” said Ball, the state Agriculture Commissioner. “I am so pleased to see this funding being awarded to these deserving farms, who will now have the additional resources they need to ensure that they can continue to provide the very best milk and dairy products, and keep operations and the supply chain going, even in the event of severe weather or emergency events.”
This grant funding comes as the New York dairy industry sees major investments in plants and farms across the state. In April, Gov. Hochul and regional lawmakers attended the groundbreaking of a new, $1.2 billion Chobani company plant in Oneida County, which will become the largest single-site natural food processing center in the country and increase fluid milk demand by multiple billions of pounds per year.
New York has already pumped $23 million into that project alone, with another $73 million in tax credits for job creation set aside once the facility starts hiring.
A handful of other major projects, including a Fairlife milk processing plant in western New York, a $30 million expansion of the Agri-Mark cheese facility in Chateaugay, Franklin County, a $150 million Cayuga Marketing milk plant in Auburn, a $621 million cheese plant in Franklinville, Cattaraugus County, are expected to increase demand for milk in New York by more than 35% by 2030.
New York already has nearly 300 processing facilities for milk and milk products, served with more than 16 billion pounds of milk per year from over 3,000 dairy farms, over 95% of which are family-owned and operated.