However numerous consumer concerns come to mind. They are the environmental issues created by very large dairies and future competition for water in the and western areas. Also an issue, the lack of milk producers in proximity to high population centers of the North and Northeast. Just imagine how today's diesel fuel prices would affect the cost of California milk in New York City. The dairy industry in Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin are the agricultural backbone of each state.
Dairy farms provide hundreds of million of dollars to the economic activity to each state.
The loss of these farms will be felt in the rural, urban and metro areas and all of the governing taxing bodies within the region. Tourism depends on dairy farms in many areas for the beauty and tranquillity of cows grazing, open fields, rows of corn and farmsteads. When dairy farms fail many times they are sub divided into small plots or large home lots which can never again contribute to the production of food or enhance tourism. Many areas of this region are ideally suited to the dairy cow. Climate is right and milk can be produced in a environmentally safe manner.