Dairy processors seek workers to power growth

Julia Smith ’99 worked as an agricultural education teacher for almost 20 years before moving into the New York dairy processing industry. In those roles, she’s seen a mismatch: young people who are interested in producing food but don’t know how to break in, and dairy processing companies desperate for workers but can’t find enough applicants to fill rapidly increasing manufacturing jobs. 

“People walk into McDonald’s and Walmart all the time, so they understand that there’s work there. People don’t often walk into dairy processing plants, so there’s an unawareness of this opportunity,” Smith said. “For an entry-level job at one of our plants, you can walk in with a high school diploma and earn $22-23 an hour with full benefits and retirement to start with. We just need more people to walk in.”

Smith is director of learning and development for Upstate Niagara Cooperative, one of the largest dairy farm cooperatives in the Northeast. She’s also one of the key industry partners for Cornell’s dairy workforce training initiatives. Cornell has supported New York’s dairy industry since its founding as the state’s land-grant university, but recent industry investments in dairy processing – $3 billion in upstate facilities newly opened or under construction – have supercharged the need to train and educate workers in this field.

“Because of our very close connections with the dairy industry in New York state, we had been hearing from lots of processors for some time that workforce was a huge problem for them,” said Nicole Martin, assistant research professor of dairy foods microbiology. 

“We are in a good position to help address that need because of our long-term relationship with these processors, and because a big part of our mission at Cornell is to educate people. These are good, local careers. People are just not very well aware of them.”

New York is by far the largest yogurt producing state in the country: New York’s processors produce over 800 million pounds of yogurt per year (California, the second-highest yogurt producer, generates less than half that amount). And while consumption of fluid milk continues to drop across the country, consumption of processed dairy products – like protein drinks and yogurts – continues to grow. Chobani is perhaps the best-known company in this space, having revolutionized the industry when it introduced Greek yogurt in 2005. The company announced plans to expand its already-considerable footprint in the state with a new $1.2 billion facility in Rome, New York. Many other companies are also contributing to the state’s dairy manufacturing renaissance. Fairlife, which is owned by Coca-Cola Co., is slated to open a $650 million milk processing plant in Webster, New York, in early 2026. Cayuga Milk and Byrne Dairy are among the companies that have recently expanded.

Cornell Dairy Foods Extension programs train about 1,000 people per year in dairy processing topics, Martin said. But the need to expand the entry-level workforce led the university to partner with companies like Upstate Niagara, Stewart’s and Chobani to host three-day bootcamps for potential applicants drawn from career centers, BOCES programs and high schools. Starting in 2022, the programs run four times per year, in partnership with a different dairy processor across New York. Participants complete a series of online lessons on topics like basic dairy science and sanitation, then they come in person for facility tours, hands-on activities and question-and-answer sessions with current employees. 

Hannah Moyal, workforce support specialist with Cornell’s dairy foods extension program, coordinates the bootcamps. She collaborates with high schools, trade schools and workforce boards across the state to recruit job seekers, and trains them in the soft skills necessary to land a job. The next bootcamp will be Oct. 28-30 in South Edmeston, NY partnering with Chobani. Registration is required. 

“In many cases, the dairy processing plant is the biggest employer in the area, but nobody knows about it,” Moyal said. “I try to find people looking for work and teach some foundational skills that they need to get started, but a lot of it is just letting people know that this career path exists.”

Krisy Gashler is a writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.