Assemblyman Joe Giglio (R-Gowanda) today called on the people of the Southern Tier to join him in celebrating Dairy Month in New York state. Dairy Month is an annual celebration honoring America’s dairy farmers and the safe, wholesome products they produce daily.

As part of Dairy Month, celebrations are being held throughout New York to tout the importance of the dairy industry in the state.

Locally, the 40th Annual Dairy Week is currently taking place at the Cuba Fire Department. The weeklong celebration is highlighted by the Grand Parade on Saturday, June 10th, where Giglio is slated to be in attendance.

“Dairy Month is not like any other monthly designations that exist,” said Giglio. “It has special meaning for us in the Southern Tier because of the importance of the dairy industry to us locally and the number of hard-working dairy farmers we have in our region.”

New York’s dairy industry generates $1.84 billion from the sale of milk, which is more than half of the state’s total agricultural receipts. Nationally, New York ranks first in the production of cottage cheese, and third for fluid milk, Italian cheese, and total cheese production.

The state’s dairy industry consists of 7,200 dairy farmers, who produce 12.2 billion pounds of milk, dairy processors and manufacturers who process a variety of wholesome dairy products.

“I hope people will join me this month to thank our local dairy farmers for the work they do in making the industry the strongest and healthiest in the country,” said Giglio.