With a shortage of supplies for milk cartons persisting, Congressman Marc Molinaro is turning attention to the Food Supply Chain Capacity & Resiliency Act he sponsored earlier this year.
He said the bill would potentially allow more manufacturers to enter a space that two companies dominate.
“The very bipartisan bill I sponsor would allow for loans and assistance to manufacturers of all sizes to enter into the space so we have a more resilient supply chain or can expand capacity,” said Molinaro. “Certainly, I believe Congress needs to adopt it.”
For the American Dairy Association Northeast, its relationship with schools throughout the region is a foundational part of the organization.
“It’s proven that when they eat healthy they’re just better students,” said Donahoe. “Their cognitive skills are better, their test scores are better. They are just an all-around healthier child.”
As the shortage may persist longer and access to cartons may be harder to come by the organization is focused on providing alternatives that will deliver milk in other forms to schools.
“We have pivoted to other ways they can serve the milk, whether it’s in gallons and being poured or it’s in dispensers,” said Donahoe. ”What we have done is the best that we can do whether it’s working with cooperatives and processors and everybody that we work with to make sure there is still milk in schools if not in cartons but in any way the children can get it.”
“On a farmer’s part of it, we still milk our cows twice a day and our milk gets picked up every other day,” said Donahoe. “We just continue to run our farms in the same manner we always have.”
Donahoe said the hope is the shortage will be solved before the new year, allowing things to return to normal for students after winter break.
