When federal funding cuts eliminated local food buys for food pantries earlier this spring, the women behind an Illinois dairy stepped up with a fundraising campaign of their own.
What does a creamery do when a single entity purchases 48,000 pieces of cheese annually through federal funding that’s no longer available?
Illinois farmers and food banks started facing a challenge in March due to abrupt cuts to the Local Food Purchase Assistance program. The $17.8 million funding loss halted mutually beneficial transactions between farmers and food banks. Unable to fulfill a large cheese order to a local food bank, Marcoot Jersey Creamery, Greenville, Ill., launched a campaign to complete the orders as originally planned, despite funding cuts.
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