SCHUMER: PROJECT WAVE MUST BE A BOON FOR UPSTATE DAIRY FARMERS, COULD CEMENT NEW YORK'S REPUTATION AS THE YOGURT CAPITAL - URGES PEPSI TO SOURCE AS MUCH MILK AS POSSIBLE FROM NEARBY NY DAIRY FARMS
Recently-Announced Project Wave Will Produce New Yogurt Products Under the Pepsi Brand - Will Require Millions And Millions Of Pounds Of Milk Per Year
In Personal Letter To Head of Pepsi, Schumer Urges Plant Owner To Buy As Much Milk As They Can From New York's Dairy Farmers
Schumer: Project Wave and Upstate NY Dairy Farms Are a Match Made in Heaven
Last week, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer asked the new owners of the Project Wave yogurt production facility that will be built in Genesee County to source as much of the milk for their product as they can from New York's dairy farmers. The plant, which is expected to use millions of pounds of milk each year, represents another opportunity to cement New York's place as the yogurt capital of the United States. In a personal letter to Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi, Schumer called on the owners to reach out to New York dairy farmers and groups and establish agreements to purchase milk from New York farms.
"This project is going to make waves in western New York and beyond, but we need to make sure those ripples spread throughout Upstate New York's dairy farms as well," said Schumer. "This plant is going to turn out job after job, and they're going to need millions of gallons of milk to do it. That milk should come from right here in the Empire State. We have thousands of farms in all corners of the state, ready and willing to produce product to meet this new demand. I hope that Pepsi will start reaching out to our stellar dairy farmers, and help them milk this plant for all it's worth."
The new plant, to be built in Batavia, will create 186 jobs primarily around the manufacturing of various yogurt products. In his letter, Schumer notes that the plant will be the largest manufacturing operation to locate in Genesee County in the past 50 years. Schumer is pushing to secure federal funds to help cover the cost of additional infrastructure upgrades at the business park to ensure that the site is ready when construction is scheduled to begin. Dairy processing has significantly increased, thanks to the opening of several new yogurt plants in the state, and the new Project Wave plant represents the latest opportunity to increase demand for New York dairy products. To ensure that the project is a boon for New York farmers first and foremost, Schumer is urging the partners to begin their search for milk suppliers by looking inside the state first.
"After a long period of trauma triggered by the economic collapse in 2008, the emergence of the Greek yogurt market, which requires intense amounts of high-quality milk, is a bright light at the end of the tunnel for New York's long-suffering dairy farmers, and I will do all I can to make sure they benefit from this very positive new market," said Schumer.
In his letter, Schumer writes, "Dairies are economic engines. Studies show that every dollar we spend generates another $2.50 in local economic activity. A dairy with 1,000 cows has an economic impact of $13.7 million on its community each year. And so that's why today I am asking that you help us double-down on your initial investment in New York by committing to work with local dairy farmers to ensure that milk used at your facilities is sourced from New York."
The text of Schumer's letter to Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi appears below:
Dear Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi,
I write to commend you for your recent commitment to build PepsiCo's first yogurt-producing facility in Batavia, New York under a joint venture with Theo Muller Gmbh and ask that you join me in an effort to source as much New York dairy as possible for the new plant's operation. Specifically, I would like to encourage you to meet with New York's dairy producers with the goal of establishing an agreement to source dairy for the new facility from New York producers. As you probably know, New York is home to 10% of the nation's dairy plants, with 5,400 farms and 619,000 cows that produce 12.4 billion pounds of milk, according to the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition.
This new plant is already a win-win for Western New Yorkers, providing 186 new jobs while enabling PepsiCo to leverage one of the mostly highly skilled workforces in the nation. It will be the largest manufacturing operation to start in Genesee County in the past 50 years. As you know, I am leading efforts with the Genesee County Economic Development Center to secure federal funding to help cover the cost of final wastewater and road infrastructure upgrades at the Agri-Business Park to accommodate this new plant's build-out. I am confident that working together with Genesee County Economic Development Corporation and the State of New York, we will lay the foundation for a major agricultural manufacturing cluster in the region for years to come. However, in addition to the new direct jobs, this manufacturing plant offers tremendous growth opportunities for New York's local dairy industry. New York ranks as the nation's 3rd largest dairy producer, with 40 percent of the state's milk production coming from dairies in the 15-county western New York region which includes the state's largest producer, Wyoming County.
According to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, the state produced 368 million pounds of yogurt in 2010, nearly 40 percent more than the previous year. Over five years, production rose almost 60 percent. Much of that increase is for Greek yogurt production. New York State is quickly becoming known as the capital of Greek yogurt production, which is helping to attract additional investment in new plants and providing long-term certainty to dairy producers and local manufacturers. The fast growing Greek yogurt category is certainly a lucrative new market and using New York workers and New York milk will only strengthen PepsiCo's bottom-line.
Dairies are economic engines. Studies show that every dollar we spend generates another $2.50 in local economic activity. A dairy with 1,000 cows has an economic impact of $13.7 million on its community each year. And so that's why today I am asking that you help us double-down on your initial investment in New York by committing to work with local dairy farmers to ensure that milk used at your facilities is sourced from New York.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
U.S. Senator