Gov. Tom Wolf hopes to help dairy farm families statewide with his new dairy development plan, which was released Wednesday by the state Department of Agriculture.

HARRISBURG — Butler County had 430 dairy farms during the milk industry's heyday. Today, there are around 25.

Many dairy farmers cannot sell the milk they produce because demand is down and supply is up, so they are either taking out loans to fund their farms, switching to livestock production or selling out.

Most local dairy farmers operate family farms started by their great-grandparents, and have no other skills to take to the workplace should their farms fail.

Gov. Tom Wolf has taken notice of the dire dairy situation in Pennsylvania, and hopes to help dairy farm families statewide with his new dairy development plan, which was released Wednesday by the state Department of Agriculture.

“Governor Wolf believes we must use every ounce of authority at our disposal in our state and federal governments to best position our dairy industry to remain a critical part of our community and economy,” the plan states.

The plan's strategies include attracting milk processing plants to the state where farmers can sell their milk; ramping up marketing on the value of milk as a healthy beverage; providing resources to dairy farmers regarding their business or in the form of job training; encouraging increased milk sales in schools, workplaces and other venues; providing funding to farmers for on-farm milk processing or organic systems; streamlining and expediting the regulatory process to prevent backlogs; requesting action from the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board to bolster the dairy industry; partnering with the state Department of Transportation to improve milk product transportation, and other strategies.

County Commissioner Kim Geyer said she is encouraged that much of the plan's substance includes issues discussed July 2, when state Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding visited the county to take input from dairy industry members throughout the region.

She pointed out in particular the plan's strategy to diversify dairy product production beyond milk, as Pennsylvania now imports much of its cheese, ice cream and yogurt.

Geyer also was encouraged to see that the governor's plan included allowing 1 percent white and chocolate milk into public school cafeterias to replace the skim milk products that students are throwing in the garbage.

She applauded the Trump administration for amending the Child Nutrition Act to allow the 1 percent milk in schools and for encouraging school districts to request local products for their cafeterias.

“Most kids will drink 1 percent white or chocolate milk if offered to them in comparison to skim milk, which is thrown into school garbage cans by the multitudes,” Geyer said.

Geyer said the dairy industry has also been damaged in recent years by the promotion of sports drinks to youths instead of milk and associating the consumption of milk with the childhood obesity epidemic in America.

“Is it better for our kids to consume a healthy beverage that produces strong bones and teeth and healthy bodies, or sugary drinks filled with artificial additives that produce cavities and provides minimal health benefits while adding to childhood obesity?” she said.

Regarding the dairy plan's strategy to survey county economic development organizations to create an inventory of sites suitable for dairy processing operations, Geyer said Butler County plans to offer possible sites that may work for that purpose.

Geyer was pleased that the governor's plan included the concerns of the local dairy farmers.

“I am encouraged from a county-level perspective that many of our county dairy producers' issues were integrated into the governor's dairy development plan as a framework for moving forward,” Geyer said.

The dairy development plan is available at www.agriculture.pa.gov under “hot topics.”