What happens to all the dairy farmers when students are out of school for the Summer and not guzzling milk cartons?
State leaders say a new state program has found the solution by connecting farmers and ranchers dealing with surpluses in the slow season to families struggling to make ends meet.
“This program puts those pieces together.” Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said. “We could not do this without the Legislature.”
Simpson, Senate President Ben Albritton and Senate President Pro Tempore Jason Brodeur held a joint press conference Thursday to highlight the state’s $38 million investment with the Farmers Feeding Florida initiative that began July 1.
Farmers Feeding Florida expands Florida food bank infrastructure so that fresh produce, meat and other products from the Sunshine State can end up in food banks and help feed hungry people, they said.
Within the past month, about 170,000 gallons of milk — or about 2.7 million cartons — ended up going to needy families, Simpson said. [According to the USDA, milk consumption in 2023 was 22.5 million pounds in Florida, based on a per-capita consumption of 15 gallons a year. The distribution amounted to 0.76 percent of consumption.]
Albritton called the program a “hand up, not a handout.”
“We’re setting a precedent here, folks,” Albritton said. “We’re setting a precedent that food insecurity is not imaginary. It’s real. It’s real, and most importantly, we can do something about it.”
Brodeur, the Chair of the Agriculture Appropriations Committee, said the project had been in the works for years.
Breaking down the state’s investment, $10 million is allocated toward transportation and new sites for infrastructure running the program, while the other $28 million is direct assistance to the farmers, he said.
Robin Safley, the CEO of Feeding Florida, said the project will allow her to expand her program working with nine member food banks that covers all 67 counties.
Feeding Florida, which focuses on fresh produce, uses the state funding to cover the pick and pack costs on behalf of the growers, she said.
“That also allows us to get product really, really soon,” she said. “So we’ve become part of the supply chain.”
–Gabrielle Russon, Florida Politics
Pogo says
@Another corporate subsidy
https://www.google.com/search?q=corporate+subsidy
Period.
From each by their vulnerability; to each, according to who they know, who they blow, and who they own.
— Pogo
Jim says
Well, this is a great idea. But, question: What happens to the people that need this food “once the kids go back to school” or whatever else brings the markets back to normal?
I’m glad to see the farmers get help through slow times. I just wonder why that helpful hand dries up for those in need when they are in their slow times?
Andy says
The ‘slow times” is not an accurate statement. The surpluses occur during the peaks of the season (by crop) when the supply chain is packed with product and harvesting schedules must be maintained. Whoever wrote this was either given poor info or is completely unfamiliar with the program. Also, the program does not expand food bank infrastructure other than to make an inefficient food distribution model even worse. This is definite case of where throwing money (taxpayer dollars to boot) at a problem will not solve it. The system is broken and the FL Legislature has been duped – hook, line and sinker.