Hello:

I am looking for statistics that reference the state of non-corporate
owned ice cream manufacturers in the United States.  (For example,
Edy's, Breyers, Dreyers, are CORPORATE owned ice cream manufacturers
and are NOT what I am looking for.)

To clarify what I am looking for generic statistics on: Non-corporate
owned ice cream manufacturers are not public companies -- and most are
regionally based.  An example of an independent (or non-corporate
ownded) ice cream manufacturer would be "Oregon Ice Cream".

I called the USDA, which suggested this site:
http://www.nass.usda.gov:81/ipedb/farmnum.htm
but this is NOT what I am looking for.

The international dairy foods association suggested this site:
http://www.idfa.org/facts/icecream.cfm
but it does not provide statistics about the dairies that produce ice
cream -- mostly focusing on actual ice cream statistics and info.

I am not looking for statistics on ice cream, but rather the
INDEPENDENT (or non-corporate owned) dairies that produce ice cream.

While it is generally accepted in the ice cream industry that the
number of independent ice cream manufacturers is declining rapidly, I
am having a hard time finding NUMBERS and STATISTICS to prove this. 
For example, dairy owners have told me that in the 1970s,there were
about 1600 independent plants while today less than 600 exist due to
mergers and aquisitons (by companies like Dean Foods, etc.)  But no
one has actual
research to prove this, it is just commonly accepted information --
and I need actual statistics to know if this is accurate information.

Specifically, I would like to know:
1) How many independent ice cream manufacturers exisisted in the 50s,
60s, etc in relation to present day numbers.
2)How many independent ice cream manufacturers exist today in relation to
corporate ice cream manufacturers such as Edy's, Breyers, Dreyers,
etc.

Thank you!