Big city sponsors face off against rural dairies.

by John Klar

A New York bill that would restrict the size of cattle farms has sparked controversy as urban climate change legislators from the Big Apple seek to limit rural livelihoods by imposing regulatory limits on the number of cows a farm can have. The attack on cow emissions by city slickers who know nothing about farming has farmers, legislators, and reportedly even Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul up in arms in opposition.

700-Cow Climate Limit?

Sponsored by downstate Democrats and several members of the Democratic Socialists of America, NY State Senate Bill 2025-S6530 “Prohibits the department of environmental conservation from issuing or authorizing any permits to new or expanding large concentrated animal feeding operations.” Supporters seek to restrict large-scale factory farms to protect the environment and small family farms, but many farmers claim their larger farms are also family-owned, with some spanning many generations.

Eric Dziedzic, a dairy farmer who milks 1,400 cows at Dziedzic Farms alongside his parents and other family members, has observed that Chobani Yogurt, Great Lakes Cheese, and Fairlife milk are all developing large processing operations in New York, which will require farmers to deliver the raw milk. The Northeast Dairy Producer Association reports that New York is the fifth-largest dairy-producing state in the country and that 95% of its farms are family-owned.

The draft bill states:

“CAFOs [concentrated animal feeding operations] pose an economic threat to smaller-sized farms and the rural economies supported by them. These large-scale factory farms are often run by large corporations that squeeze out local competition to maximize profits.

“CAFOs also release significant amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas, and harm the surrounding air quality through the release of ammonia and nitrogen oxides.”

Cows Aren’t the Problem

Justifying environmental regulation with claims of countering economic imbalances is objectionable to upstate dairymen; they argue that they already comply with far more stringent state environmental restrictions than federal laws require and that their family operations are being penalized for the perceived shortcomings of large corporations. In addition to the inequitable economic impacts on many mid-sized farms, the environmental rationale is based on shoddy climate science. Some studies show that eliminating cows can increase the net amount of methane emissions.

For city legislators, cows are a one-size-fits-all culprit. Ever since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) declared war on cow flatulence, the climate gurus malign all cows equally, regardless of herd size. This methane-only metric overlooks the intricate relationships between cows, communities, economies, and food supplies. Cow farming supports upstaters’ livelihoods, provides high-quality nutrition for urban school lunches, protects scenic landscapes, and often sequesters more carbon than it emits.

As reported by Liberty Nation News, “[I]n the effort to reverse soil and environmental degradation, no player is more key than cows.” Many large farms employ regenerative practices while converting grass that is inedible to humans into milkshakes for city restaurants, steaks for Manhattan steakhouses, and burgers for Bronx bistros. Allegedly, the sponsors of the controversial cow-limiting bill did not even meet with the farming community they sought to rule from their concrete metropolis.

New York’s bovine-discriminatory cow bill has annoyed farmers and the rural communities that support and depend upon them. The state’s economy benefits from beef and dairy businesses, and rural denizens resent being economically harmed by socialist urbanites who think chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

Perhaps a farmers’ boycott of dairy products and meats shipped to the big city would demonstrate who works for whom (“Let them eat cake, or buns without burgers!”). But NYC legislators are already hearing the message loud and clear from distant pastures, and indications are that farm-loving Hochul would refuse to sign the thing even if it made its way to her desk.

The author is a Brookfield best-selling author, lawyer, farmer and pastor.