New York is No. 1 in yogurt

New York state is now officially America’s yogurt-making capital, surpassing California in 2012 as the top yogurt producer in the U.S.

New York”™s yogurt processors produced 692 million pounds of yogurt in 2012 compared with 587 million pounds of yogurt in California, the governor”™s office reported. In 2011, California produced 627 million pounds of yogurt, compared with 554 million pounds in New York state.

In the last five years, New York’s yogurt plants have nearly tripled production and milk production grew by more than 1 billion pounds.

Under revised regulations favorable to the industry, dairy farmers who do not discharge into waterways can increase their herds from 199 to 299 without countering the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations regulations that govern the industry.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo convened the state’s first Yogurt Summit in August 2012 to bring together dairy farmers, yogurt producers and state officials to find new ways to support the industry’s growth. The goal was removing regulatory burdens to make it easier for dairy farms to expand their herds while ensuring that the state’s water remains protected.

“The new New York state is a place where businesses can grow and thrive, and the fact that New York State is now, for the first time ever, the nation’s leader in yogurt production demonstrates that our efforts to open the state’s doors to business and grow the private sector are truly working,” Cuomo said in a prepared statement.

“Our state government is working closer together with the private sector than ever before, rolling back bureaucratic red tape and addressing the burdens that are facing job creators.”

While New York has gained a reputation as a national leader in popular Greek yogurt, this is the first time since data on yogurt production has been available that New York has led the nation in all yogurt production.

Dairy farming was a $414 million industry statewide in 2011, the last year for which the U.S. Department of Agriculture has records, employing some 8,100 workers.