Twelve years ago, California swept past Wisconsin to become the country’s number one milk producing state. Now, it looks like it may do the same in cheese production as early as next year. But, according to an editorial, there may be more to the story.

As California dairying has grown, so have problems related to huge dairy farms in areas short of water and besieged by urban sprawl. Those problems are producing government regulation and public pressures that are starting to weigh on farmers. “The shift of California’s dairy landscape continued in 2005, with dairies relocating or shutting down at an increasing rate,” reported California Dairy Statistics and Trends, a state publication.

To appreciate how ominous the signals are for California’s dairy industry, consider the state with the biggest increase in milk production last year — Wyoming. Why is Wyoming’s dairy industry growing so fast? Part of the answer is that farmers are moving there from California.