Dairylea Cooperative's Price Cuts Spark Ire

ALBANY — Faced with a surplus of milk, the state's largest dairy cooperative is cutting the price that it pays its farmers, causing some of them to question why that's happening when more milk is needed for the state's burgeoning Greek yogurt business.

In an April 30 memo, Syracuse-based Dairylea Cooperative warned its 2,000 member farms in the Northeast that it would impose a temporary price cut starting this month, citing a nationwide surge in the supply of milk since the beginning of the year.

"This is something we have done on rare occasions and only do if it is absolutely needed," according to the memo, which came from Gregory Wickham, Dairylea CEO, and Brad Keating, a vice president of Dairy Farmers of America.

Founded in Orange County in 1907, the cooperative is the largest in the Northeast and sells more than $1 billion in milk from member farms each year. It is run by a board of directors elected by the farmers who are cooperative members.

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