Supporting Local Dairy Producers
School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic are taking a serious toll on more than 55 million students nationwide, many of whom depend on school meals for their daily nutrition. Dairy farmers, which have supported childhood nutrition initiatives for over a century, including increasing access to nutritious meals in schools, are now also suffering as they are no longer able to distribute their carton milk supply.
“This has added to the problem as WI dairy producers learn that the supply chain is not available to them to sell their milk. Farms throughout the state may be faced with having to dump their milk at this point in time,” said Dawn Beihoffer, ProVision Partners. “Local farms are turning to restaurants to help during this time, by encouraging local restaurants to offer carton milk as part of their takeout service.”
“When I saw the photos of milk being dumped, I couldn’t just stand on the sidelines and watch the toll on the ag community,” said Branden Bodendorfer, TriMedia City of Marshfield. “I knew with our connections and the great people of our region that we could find a way, even if it just made a small impact.”
In response, Nutz Deep II in Marshfield will begin offering carton milk with every takeout order, you can get carton milk for each member of your family.
“It’s fresh milk bottled daily, so it makes sense to use it and we wanted to support our local farmers and the dairy industry in Wisconsin,” said Lisa Strohman-Schutz, owner at Nutz Deep II. “This is especially important during this extra challenging time. Being a part of this community, we know how important it is to support each other.”
Other restaurants are encouraged to offer carton milk with their carryout orders. To participate, contact Weber’s Farm at 715.384.5639.
“Restaurants purchasing the carton milk helps use up our milk supply,” said Peggy Noeldner, Nasonville Dairy. “It helps us utilize the milk that comes in from our dairy farms, which prevents the farmers from having to find a different place to distribute or dispose of.”
“All of our milk comes from local farms and they are our own farms,” she added “The majority of the farms are within a 50-mile radius.”
Weber’s Farm Store is open and available for bag milk purchases. Nasonville Dairy Farm Store is open, as well.
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