New York cheese production rose last year, butter production slipped

New York plants produced just over 870 million pounds of cheese (excluding cottage cheese) in 2020, up 4.6 percent from almost 832 million pounds the year before, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported.

The state had 66 cheese-production plants last year, up from 64 in 2019.

New York plants produced nearly 23.9 million pounds of butter in 2020, down 9.8 percent from almost 26.5 million pounds the year prior, according to the USDA NASS.

The Empire State had 12 butter-production plants last year, up from 9 in 2019.