Kankakee Times

June is National Dairy Month and earlier in the month Illinois dairy farmers and the Illinois Milk Producers Association (IMPA) donated more than 2,000 half gallons of milk and almost 400 half-gallon lactose-free milk containers to food banks in Central and Eastern Illinois.

According to Brownfield News, this was part of an effort to help turn around food insecurity across the state.

“What we are hoping to do is bring a little more awareness to milk consumption, the value, the contribution and just the overall health that dairy brings to our communities,” said IMPA Executive Director Tasha Bunting in the June 7 Brownfield News report. “This is a way to help bring those communities that maybe are a little more food insecure the products that they are needing.”

Bunting said that this donation was significant, but also something that will be ongoing as the IMPA is working with companies and other groups to form a Dairy Donation Group in Illinois. They have worked with the Illinois Pork Producers Association, using the Illinois Pork Power donation program as a model to create the program. They have also received contributions from the Illinois Corn Growers Association and the Illinois Soybean Association.

“We worked with Prairie Farms, who’s been very generous in helping us secure product and work on getting us the tools that we need to be able to hopefully build upon it for the future and growing a program for more distribution and donation,” Bunting added in the Brownfield News report.

On June 1, Awake Illinois shared a piece of milk-related trivia. It wrote on Twitter: "#June is National #Dairy Month. Did you now Illinois is home to more than 780 dairy farms?”

State Rep. Jackie Haas (R-Kankakee) also took to social media to mark National Dairy Month. Haas wrote on Facebook: ”This month we celebrate all things dairy in Illinois, like milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt and more! What’s your favorite dairy-based treat? #DairyMonth”

Haas included a link to a Farm Progress report detailing how people are observing the month. She also listed facts about dairy including that Illinois cows produce 200 million gallons of milk each year. There are 411 dairy farms, 84,000 cows milked, 27 processing plants and 20,656 jobs in dairy production and food processing. Cows produce 2,400 gallons of milk each year and $248 million in total dairy products has been exported. The fact sheet also noted that 95% of dairy farms are family owned and operated.

In a June 22 news release, Haas discussed the newest USDA report, which said that as of June 11, less than half of the fields in the state have enough moisture to grow corn and soybeans that were planted this year. Only 27% of fields have adequate topsoil moisture, she added. This could have an effect on the farmers who raise crops to feed dairy animals and others.

The International Dairy Foods Association notes that National Dairy Month began in 1937, as National Milk Month as a way to encourage people to drink milk and stabilize the demand for dairy when production led to a surplus of milk available to the public. The National Dairy Council turned the observance into a tradition that highlights the work of dairy farmers across the country.