Los Banos Rotary Club History
Fresno Dairyman Cites Importance Of Dairy Cow!

Hailing the California dairy cow as the most efficient producer of food mankind has ever known, Alvin Quist, Fresno county dairyman, Tuesday noon gave members of the Los Banos Rotary Club a new appreciation of the value of dairying to this community, not only as the producer of a major portion of the community's wealth and prosperity, but as a supplier of one of the world's most important foods.

A quart of milk, Quist pointed out, contains half of the nutrients needed daily by an adult, and costs less than a quarter—which makes it one of the cheapest foods in the world. In comparison with other food price increases since pre-World War II, Quist pointed out that the price of milk today has increased proportionately 26 per cent less than the average of all other foods.
As to the commercial value of dairying to California, Quist emphasized the industry contributes one-eighth of the entire annual agricultural wealth of the state. Nation-wide, California ranks eleventh in number of cows, fourth in total milk consumption, third in total cash income value, and first in average milk production per cow. This latter fact, Quist cited, is a credit to the progressive and intelligent dairymen of this state, and proof positive of their ability in the development of improved dairy herds and increasingly efficient farming practices.

Following his talk, Quist showed a color movie of California dairying, featuring today's dairy manufacturing practices, from dairy barn through the manufacturing processes of the various dairy food products, to the retail store.

June 24, 1955

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