Dairy Business Management
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Item Hired labor on New York state dairy farms Cost, efficiency and change from 2018 to 2024Karszes, Jason (PRO-DAIRY, 2025-09)Hired labor plays a significant role on dairy farms, with more than 9,000 jobs provided by New York dairy farms in 2019. As farm size grows, hired employees provide a larger percentage of the labor required to operate the farm. In 2021, authors J. Karszes and C. Wolf presented an in-depth look at hired labor on larger dairy farms over a 10-year period in E.B. 2021-05 “Hired labor on New York state dairy farms: Costs, efficiency and change from 2011 to 2020”. Since then, hired labor costs have continued to increase. This paper presents updated trends, costs and changes over the last seven years through 2024.Item Trends in herd dynamics and productionKoval, Lainey; Karszes, Jason (PRO-DAIRY, 2025-09)The 2024 business year was a higher earnings year on average across New York dairy farms that participated in the Dairy Farm Business Summary (DFBS), as noted in the 2024 DFBS Progress of the Dairy Farm Report Strong milk prices and component production, high prices paid for beef cows, beef calves and dairy replacements were just a few factors that contributed to higher earnings. With some unique industry dynamics during the year, this report examines trends specific to herd size and milk production across NY farms that participate in the Dairy Farm Business Summary & Analysis Project (DFBS). The DFBS data set includes 128 NY conventional dairy farms in which dairy is their main enterprise, with at least 85% of farm revenue generated from milk, dairy cattle and calf revenue. Data is also provided for a subset of 90 NY dairy farmers who completed the DFBS supplemental survey and answered questions on selected topics related to the dairy herd.Item What impact will the FMMO final rule have on the Northeast?Ainslie, Aidan; Pound, Avery; Wolf, Chris (PRO-DAIRY, 2025-09)On January 16, 2025, the final Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) rule was released after a 49-day national hearing that took place in Carmel, Indiana with 21 different proposals from the dairy industry. Most of the changes and amendments to the uniform pricing formulas went into effect on June 1, 2025. However, the update to milk composition factors will go into effect on December 1, 2025. This paper considers the impact of the FMMO changes on the FO1 base milk prices using monthly data from January 2021 through December 2024, assuming no changes in quantity.Item How much is New York State’s 20 percent farmer investment tax credit worth today?MacKenzie, Mary Kate (PRO-DAIRY, 2025-04)In April of 2022, New York State expanded the farmer investment tax credit (ITC) to be worth 20 percent of eligible capital investment. For property placed in service on or after January 1, 2023, the ITC is fully refundable for taxpayers who earn more than two-thirds of their gross income from farming. Many asset types are eligible for the ITC, so long as they have a useful life of four years or more and are used primarily in agricultural production. Investments in land, passenger vehicles, and buildings used for other purposes (e.g. farmworker housing) are ineligible at this time.Item Performance trends for NY dairy farms from 2018 to 2023MacKenzie, Mary Kate (PRO-DAIRY, 2024-12)In “Six Year Trend Analysis 2023,” author Jason Karszes presents characteristics of the 118 dairy farms that participated in the Cornell Dairy Farm Business Summary each year from 2018 to 2023.1 The report illustrates changes over time in key performance and financial metrics for a subset of the New York dairy industry and compares the top 25% most profitable farms to the remaining 75%. This article shares highlights from the data and explores possible drivers of success for individual farms while considering impacts of changes in the broader economic and regulatory environments.Item 2023 Production and financial benchmarks for New York organic dairiesMacKenzie, Mary Kate (PRO-DAIRY, 2024-11)Financial benchmarking provides a valuable tool for farm managers to assess business performance and identify strengths and weaknesses. Yet information about the financial performance of organic dairies in New York can be difficult to find. The Dairy Farm Business Summary and Analysis Program (DFBS), housed at Cornell University, dates to the 1950’s and is arguably the most robust and longstanding dairy benchmarking program in the country. Participation in the DFBS is voluntary, and the number of certified organic dairies completing the annual summary has fluctuated over the years. After generating organic dairy benchmark reports for 2010 and 2011, the DFBS program did not publish any organic dairy data from 2012 to 2022, due to low participation by organic dairies over that period. In recent years, the number of organic dairies in the DFBS has risen, reaching the threshold to publish aggregate data for 2023. The resulting report “New York Organic Dairy Cost of Production: 2023 Benchmarks and Financial Performance” is available on the PRO-DAIRY website. This article summarizes key points from that report.Item Dairy Profit Monitor Trends July 2023 through June 2024Koval, Lainey; Karszes, Jason (PRO-DAIRY, 2024-10)Given the unpredictable nature of the dairy industry, it is important to monitor the performance of your dairy business on a regular basis. The graphs in this report show trends in the monthly average and range (one standard deviation above and below the average) for dairy performance metrics measured in the Dairy Profit Monitor (DPM) from July 2023 through June 2024 for 66 farms, located primarily in New York State. The graphs also include averages for the same farms in the year prior (July 2022 to June 2023) as a comparison.Item Comparing New York dairy farm characteristics, costs, and performance across four quartiles of profitability: 2023Karszes, Jason (PRO-DAIRY, 2024-09)For farms that participated in the Dairy Farm Business Summary and Analysis Program (DFBS) in 2023, earnings were impacted by a significant drop in the net milk price received, which fell 18 percent from the record high prices in 2022. While there were increases in cow, calf, and crop revenue that partially offset the drop in milk income, the overall decrease in farm revenue coupled with a one percent increase in costs resulted in a 66 percent decrease in net farm income and an average rate of return of 4.0 percent without appreciation. While the average showed significant decreases, variation continued to be wide in earnings and some farms continued to make financial progress. DFBS data from 2023 provides insight into key measures of productivity, efficiency, and financial performance for New York dairy farms during a year of weak to poor earnings.Item 16 Years of Change: PRO-DAIRY Dairy Profit MonitorKoval, Lainey; Karszes, Jason (PRO-DAIRY, 2024-09)Offered since 2008, farmers have used PRO-DAIRY’s Dairy Profit Monitor (DPM) to benchmark and monitor their business operating performance. PRO-DAIRY farm business management specialists have reviewed this data to identify trends and quantify progress over the past 16 years.Item Core Values: Bringing them to lifePutnam, Barry (PRO-DAIRY, 2024-06)