Farm to Pantry: Fresh milk from local dairies comes to families in need
The Rappahannock Food Pantry has seen an outpouring of support through donations of time, money and supplies since emergency measures to arrest the spread of COVID-19 took e ect in March. Now it’s getting another much-needed contribution — fresh milk — thanks to e orts by the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) to connect local food pantries with area dairy farms hit hard by the pandemic’s economic fallout.
The initiative kicked o last week following a conversation between PEC and Ken Smith at Cool Lawn Farm in Remington — the largest dairy farm in Fauquier County.
Using a $5,000 matching grant from the PATH Foundation and donations from private donors, PEC managed to raise $17,000 in just a few days to buy milk from the Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Co-operative Association (Maola), which processes milk from Cool Lawn and other dairy farms around the region.
“We really saw our dairy farmers being hit the hardest right now, and we felt an obligation to step in and help them in some way. And then we were also seeing from our food banks how hard it is to get fresh milk,” said Matt Coyle, who coordinates PEC’s Buy Fresh Buy Local program.
Under the PEC-led initiative, Maola buys the milk from the farms and PEC reimburses the food banks to buy the milk from Maola, Coyle explained.
It’s currently providing around 50 gallons of milk a week to the Rappahannock Food Pantry and another 150 gallons to the Fauquier Community Food Bank and Thrift Store in Warrenton for at least the next two months.
Rappahannock Pantry Manager Mimi Forbes called the program “fabulous.”
“When you see the news reports of farmers having to plow back in their tomatoes and people throwing milk down the drain, that just makes me sick,” she said.
The Pantry has seen the number of
people it serves grow from 164 clients between mid-March and mid-May 2019 to nearly 250 this year. It has also seen a jump in the number of new households it’s serving — though numbers have tapered off recently.
At the same time, supply chain disruptions and increased demand have made it difficult to stock meat and dairy products. Before the PEC program started last week, Forbes said fresh milk was in short supply.
Sharon Ames, executive director of the Fauquier Community Food Bank, echoed the need.
“We have more than doubled the number of people we’re serving, and that is one of the things even elderly people are asking for was milk, and I didn’t always have it,” she said. “I can’t emphasize how much our food insecure people are grateful for this and how much they need it.”
Coyle said the milk supplies they’re currently providing are based on the needs of those two food banks, but PEC has money to expand further in the nine-county region it covers.
“So it started off as one thing, it’s slowly evolving into a much bigger program,” he said.
Meanwhile, fruit and vegetables farmers in Rappahannock have changed their distribution models quickly. Many have set up online farm stores and are expanding their CSAs. Forbes said the pantry is getting produce from local farms and locally donated beef and pork that they’re paying to process.
Much like PEC’s initiative, the Rappahannock Lion’s Club provided the Pantry with $2,500 to spend on prepared meals at five area restaurants.
Smith from Cool Lawn Farm said
PEC’s initiative is small compared to the big picture. And Coyle recognizes that it’s not a long-term solution to the problem. But he hopes it can help through the current crisis while furthering PEC’s greater mission.
“We’re trying to create a more local food system, where it would cut down on emissions and freight and logistics, but it would also support our local farming economy,” he said.
For donations or inquiries, people can contact the food pantry at mimi@rappahannockpantry.org or PEC’s Development Advisor, Doug Larson, at dlarson@pecva.org