WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he is launching a two-pronged plan that will provide New York dairy farmers, who wish to expand their operations to meet the demand being substantially fueled by the Greek yogurt boom, with the financial tools they need. Thanks to new plants including the Quaker Muller plant, Alpina, Fage and Chobani, the New York Farm Bureau predicts that New York’s dairy farmers must be able to expand their output by 15 percent in order to take advantage of the opportunity that Greek yogurt presents for our farmers. To help dairy owners who wish to expand, Schumer plans to introduce bipartisan legislation – the DAIRY (Dairy Augmentation for Increased Retail in Yogurt products) Act – with Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) that would establish federal savings accounts targeted to farmers to help them save and grow during booms and to weather market downturns. The accounts would be structured to reward savings during periods when business is strong and defer taxes on those savings until farmers must withdraw funds to cover new expenses or manage cash flow.

Schumer also introduced a second bill that will allow farmers who purchase cows that are already in production to write off the cows as a capital expense, lowering their overall tax burden.

“Upstate New York was recently dubbed the ‘Silicon Valley of Greek Yogurt’ and I want our dairy farmers to have the financial tools to keep pace with that exciting growth in a way that stabilizes risk for them during the up-an-downs of the market,” said Schumer. “That is why I am launching a two-pronged plan that will create a savings bank to help dairy farmers manage profits during boom years, and also lower dairy farmers’ tax burden when they expand. Upstate farmers have got milk, and now we need to help them get more of it on store shelves across the country to keep the dairy engine revving in New York State.”