Stop Letting Malnourished Communities Suffer While Dumping Excess Milk

Target: Tom Vilsack, Secretary of U.S. Department of Agriculture

Goal: Mitigate effects of milk dumping on impoverished families.

During the height of the pandemic, millions of gallons of milk were dumped by farmers. For needy families, seeing this crucial supply of dairy essentially thrown into the trash was heartbreaking and a stark example of inequity. Now, history is seemingly repeating itself. As demand for milk plummets nationally, farmers who must milk cattle routinely in order to avoid health issues for the animals are once again disposing of the product in large quantities. And once again, the most disadvantaged families are suffering.

Certain steps could help alleviate this burden. For one, stronger investment could be made in expanding the storage capacity of the milk processing centers responsible for transforming raw milk into consumable dairy products. Perhaps more importantly, the government could honor previous requests from the Dairy Farmers of America to buy more allotments of milk and other products for the purposes of food bank donation. Tackling this problem could also save the lives of dairy cattle, as culling of herds has emerged as a “solution” alongside milk dumping.

Sign the petition below to urge greater involvement from the nation’s top agriculture agency.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Secretary Vilsack,

Imagine being one of the disadvantaged families whose rations of milk and dairy are currently being questioned by the government. Then, imagine seeing the images of perfectly fine milk deliberately spilled across fields. While certain forecasts may say that milk demand is down, for many communities, the demand and the need will never dry up. This reality makes the current epidemic of milk dumping on dairy farms all the more disheartening.

Storage is a crucial issue, especially for processing centers. If a commitment to increasing capacity could be spearheaded by the USDA, this one step could make a tremendous difference. Moreover, if this agency would lead efforts for the federal government to invest in more dairy and greater food bank donations, then the supply and demand imbalance could begin to correct itself. And as a consequential result, millions of underserved families would enjoy a nutritional and morale boost.

Please help prevent more milk from going to waste.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Pixabay