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- California dairy industry generates 3% of jobs in state.
- Dairies generated $63b in economic impact.
- Industry provides more stimulus than wine, entertainment industries.
A STUDY released Feb. 2 by the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) highlights the dairy industry's impact on California's economy, including the number of jobs and revenue generated from a typical dairy farm in one year.
In 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, California's largest agriculture commodity was responsible for creating a total of 443,574 jobs and $63 billion in economic activity for the state.
The typical California dairy cow and farm stimulates a positive ripple effect throughout the state, according to the research conducted by J/D/G Consulting Inc., an independent dairy industry research firm based in Florida.
Specifically, a typical dairy farm in California generates $33.1 million in economic activity and 232 jobs in the state, including on-the-farm and beyond-the-farm jobs such as milk tanker drivers, grocery store clerks, feed farmers and employees at milk processing and cheese plants.
When compared to other notable California industries, the dairy industry provides the state with more economic stimulus and jobs each year than either the iconic motion picture/television or wine industries, CMAB pointed out. The most recent statistics available for these industries showed that the motion picture/television industry contributes $35 billion and 208,230 jobs (2007 data) and the wine industry provides $59 billion and 330,000 jobs (2008 data).
"This research offers a perspective on how vital the dairy industry is to California, with every dollar from production and sales of California milk contributing to the economy," said Stan G. Andre, CMAB chief executive officer. "In addition to providing one of the four food groups that feeds our local communities, a typical dairy cow generates more than $34,000 in economic activity, and a herd of 100 cows creates 25 jobs for California residents each year."
California's dairy families were responsible for producing more than 41 billion lb. of milk in 2008, a figure that is expected to exceed 46 billion lb. by 2020, CMAB noted.
According to the study, in 2008, California had 1,905 dairies with 1.8 million dairy cows that supplied milk to 117 dairy processing plants, which produced cheese, fluid milk, ice cream, butter and other dairy products. | 
