Dairy Industry

The dairy industry is one of the highest-value agricultural sectors in the United States. Its story is highlighted by increasing organization, specialization, production, and industrialization and decreasing numbers of both dairy farms and cows. Surprisingly, given this situation, the United States did not have a true “dairy industry” until the mid-nineteenth century. Previously, most farms had one or more cows, and cheese and butter were manufactured and sold into cities, but there were few dairy “factories” until the nation was almost a century old. Once such factories appeared, industrialization and specialization proceeded at a relatively constant pace, punctuated by periods of particularly fast innovation. The geography of dairy production has also changed during this time, moving from production centers in the Northeast to the upper Midwest, and then to California.