No wonder these cows are happy; dairies are a boon for California

The wow of the cow.

That's the end result of a study of the economic impact of the California dairy business. The study, done by the California Milk Advisory Board, shows that California dairy farms contributed $63 billion to the state's economy in 2008.

"That's more than the wine industry or the movie and television industry's impact on the state," said Stan Andre, chief executive officer of the California Milk Advisory Board.

Dairies themselves produced $9.9 billion worth of milk in 2008. Add the supply chain that supports dairies, such as equipment suppliers, contractors, feed suppliers and growers and others to that figure, and the total impact is $63 billion. The board figures the basic worth is multiplied by 6.4 to show the true impact of the industry.

Merced County benefits substantially from the dairy industry, with a total worth of dairy commodities, including milk and cattle and calves, of more than $1 billion in 2008. David Robinson, agricultural commissioner for the county, said that figure doesn't take into consideration the additional economic value generated by those dollars.

"Dairies contribute more than one-third of the total ag value in the county," Robinson said. The closest commodity in value to milk in the county is chickens, which were worth about $321 million in 2008.

The milk advisory board also figured how much money a typical dairy cow produced in 2008. One milking cow generated $34,165 of economic activity, and four dairy cows equaled one job in the industry. And 10 on-the-farm jobs led to 222 beyond-the-farm jobs, Andre said.

In 2008, there were about 1.8 million milking cows in the state, according to Andre, and the average dairy milked about 1,000 cows.

"The good thing about these dollars and jobs is they stay local," Andre said. "When a person buys a computer, that computer may have been made in China. But the dairy impact is local, because the suppliers are local."

A total of about 35,000 people are directly employed by dairies in the state, which totaled about 1,900 in California in 2008, Andre said.

"The really nice thing is that throughout the rest of the supply chain, there were another 408,500 jobs," he said. That's about 3 percent of the jobs in the state that are directly related to the dairy business, Andre added.

"I don't think that people living in downtown Merced realize the importance of ag and what it really means," Andre said. "It's more than just what the local dairies do -- it's a ripple effect."

The household earnings that came from dairies in 2008 was more than $12 billion, Andre said.

"California is the No. 1 dairy state in the nation by far," Andre said. "We produce 21 percent of the milk in the country."

Robinson and Andre both believe that despite the troubles that have hit dairy farmers this year, the dairy industry will continue to thrive in the state.

"The demand for milk products globally is growing and growing," Andre said. "Milk is not only a good nutritional product -- it does a lot for the economy."

Got milk? You bet we do.

Reporter Carol Reiter can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com