Their milk was turned into butter and cheese which could be stored easily At the end of the 19th century, with the population of the state rapidly expanding, farms began to focus entirely on dairy.
With the advent of refrigeration and strict food safety laws, fresh unadulterated milk could easily be purchased by all classes.
The manure produced by the New York dairy industry has been a notable source of pollution to nearby bodies of water.
For instance, streams in Upstate New York have seen elevated levels of estrogen linked with the manure lagoons storing cow either overflowing or leaking into groundwater.
[4] In the Cannonsville watershed, agriculture that is mainly dairy production is estimated to be responsible for 55-70% of phosphorus non-point source pollution.