Data by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows India remains the global leader in milk production, trailed by the United States, which is the second largest milk producing country. India is unique among the major milk producers because more than half of its production comes from water buffalo, rather than cattle. However, India’s dairy herd is the largest in the world. Since 1980, production has grown consistently at an average of 4.5 percent per year. India surpassed the United States as the largest dairy producer in 1997 when both countries produced roughly 70 billion tons, each. In 2016, total production reached 154 billion tons compared with 96 billion produced in the United States.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.