STEVENS, Pa. — A movement to promote the choice of whole milk in schools that began in 2019 in central Pennsylvania may be close to succeeding.
The trouble is they need more manpower to reach pay dirt and change public sentiment about the red-capped milk that they feel too few people know is 97% fat-free.
“We have a very dedicated team that makes things happen,” said Glen Hursh, 97 MILK chairman. “However, the reality is we need some more helping hands to keep things moving.”
97 MILK is a nationwide grassroots nonprofit organization based in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania. A big part of its mission is to support the passage of the federal Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, a bipartisan bill that has been introduced in Congress three times now but has never made it to the President’s desk.
U.S. Reps Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-Pa., and Kim Schrier, D-Wash., reintroduced it once more on Jan. 23. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Dave McCormick, R-Pa., Roger Marshall, R-Kan. and Peter Welch, D-Vt.
The bill would revise current requirements for milk provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program and allow schools to serve whole and 2% milk again.
Schools participating in the program must provide milk that is consistent with the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Current USDA regulations require milk to be fat-free or low-fat and allow milk to be flavored or unflavored.
The 97 MILK group operates under the premise that whole milk tastes better than its low and non-fat counterparts, and if it were available in schools, more children would drink it and that would boost overall milk consumption.
Help wanted
However, too few dairy farmers have been involved in 97 MILK’s efforts, according to group leaders. About 30 dairy farmers, agri-industry and legislative representatives were present at the latest 97 MILK meeting on March 25 at the Durloch/Mt. Airy Fire Hall Station 14 in Stevens, Pennsylvania.
“Why are you here?” said Jackie Behr, 97 MILK marketing manager. “I really wish more dairy farmers would be here. I feel like we should have a room filled with dairy farmers, because this directly affects you on how you’re paid.”
97 MILK operates a website, 97milk.com, and social media pages to be a voice for local dairy farmers. The goal is to share milk facts with consumers, the dedication and passion of family-owned dairy farms and to help answer milk questions, Behr said.
The organization posts regularly to Facebook and Instagram and its website sees about 175 users a week. The year-to-date website statistics show 1.1 million organic views and 4,500 visits, Behr said.
“Sometimes it’s just a farmer and a kid and a calf,” she said of her social media posts. “Farmers care. (We’re) people like that. We love our cows. People love it. People want to see that you care about your cows.”
The group also encourages farmers to use “baleboards” — plastic-wrapped round bales painted with messages — to spread the message about whole milk. Lebanon County dairyman Nelson Troutman started using baleboards at busy intersections throughout his area more than five years ago after being overcome with frustration at the lack of progress.
The movement, said 97 MILK secretary Chris Landis, “started with Nelson’s bales and just continued on from there. It has spread into New York and up and down the East Coast. There’s some exposure in the Midwest and places where dairy is strong.”
Moving the needle
Some of this traffic comes as a result of community events the group holds locally in south central Pennsylvania. The group handed out 5,000 chocolate milks at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in January, said Earl Zimmerman, 97 MILK vice chairman. In February they had an Amish wedding meal fundraiser and served approximately 425 meals and takeouts at the Solanco Fairgrounds.
Behr said they saw a spike in web traffic to 97milk.com after the fundraiser in February, which she sees as proof that community events work to spread awareness of the group and its mission.
“For those community events, when we get there, I see spikes in the website and I see spikes in the social media,” she said.
97 MILK will have a booth and hand out literature at several Pennsylvania locations, including Family Farm Days on June 10-12 at Oregon Dairy, Lititz; milk handouts June 14 at Sensenig’s Feed Mill, New Holland, and a chocolate milk handout at the Lancaster County Carriage & Antique Auction, June 27, in Bird-in-Hand.
All of these efforts require helping hands, and more help is needed to expand the group’s work. Behr says they are moving the needle on milk consumption. She points to USDA data that shows an increase in whole milk consumption in the last five years after decades of steady decline.
“Involvement is a rewarding and necessary thing,” Landis said. He said you don’t have to be a dairy farmer to be involved with 97 MILK.
