Small dairy farms are struggling financially and many have gone out of business in recent years. Harold White used to own a small dairy farm but switched to beef cattle 10-15 years ago because the costs of operating a small dairy farm, like equipment, taxes, and labor, were prohibitive. While the remaining dairy farms in the county are larger and more productive, farmers still struggle with volatile milk prices and high costs. A new program has been proposed to help farmers pay their milk insurance premiums by allowing cooperatives and companies to spread payments out over the entire year.

1. Joe McIntyre/staff photographer
Dairy farmer Fred Forbes watches as his herd is milked March 5 at East River Dairy in Homer.
Financial issues hit dairy farms
By BRANDON ROMAGNOLI
Contributing Writer
news@cortlandstandard.net
MARATHON — Farmers like Har-
old White have been forced out of
the dairy farming business in light of
changing trends over the years mak-
ing dairy farming cost prohibitive for
small outfits.
White, who owns a farm on Cold
Spring Road, said recently he got
out of the dairy business and instead
switched to selling beef cattle about 10
or 15 years ago. Outside of not having
enough help to run a dairy operation,
White said he made the switch simply
because as a smaller farm he was un-
able to afford costs associated with
dairy production.
“It’s very difficult for a small farm
to survive,” White said. “You have to
be big ... with taxes and the cost of
equipment.”
The number of dairy farms in Cort-
land County has continued to decline
in recent years, but those that remain
are larger and produce more milk per
cow, according to federal figures ref-
erenced recently by state Comptroller
Thomas DiNapoli.
As farmers struggle with the tricky
economics of their industry, U.S. Sen.
Charles E. Schumer this week pro-
posed a new dairy payment program,
in which milk cooperatives and pri-
vate companies would help out farm-
ers struggling to pay their milk insur-
ance premiums.
The current program in place re-
quires farmers to make a 25 percent
payment on the annual insurance
bill in February and pay the remain-
ing balance by June. This can be cost
prohibitive for some, so Schumer
has proposed a payment program
that would allow co-ops or private
companies to spread out the farmers’
payments throughout the year and al-
leviate some of the financial pressures
on dairy farmers when milk prices are
low.
Farmers constantly struggle with
volatile prices they receive for their
milk, a family farm coalition pointed
out recently.
While smaller farms like White
have suffered, DiNapoli touts the ag-
riculture industry as a driving force
in the state’s economy. He referenced
figures from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture comparing 2007 data to
figures from 2012.
“New York’s economy is still fu-
eled by agricultural activity and the
production of food,” DiNapoli said.
“Farms in New York are 98 percent
family-owned, yet compete on a na-
tional level, diversifying our economy
and keeping our local communities
strong. It makes economic sense for
the state to retain and promote our
farms to feed our residents and pre-
serve our land.”
Fred Forbes, co-owner of East Riv-
er Dairy in East Homer, has been in
agriculture since 1967, and has seen
an increase in dairy production over
the years. Forbes has been farming
with his father since 1972, and on
Smaller outfits struggling most with industry’s tricky economics
See FARMS, page 2