USDA should use its Section 32 authority to purchase additional dairy products in a bid to support the struggling dairy industry and meet rising food assistance needs as the nation grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, Vermont’s congressional delegation urged in a March 24 letter to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue.
The coronavirus crisis is hitting the U.S. dairy industry hard and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) is looking to USDA to help stabilize prices and provide aid to struggling farmers along with Vermont’s congressional delegation.
USDA should “immediately exercise its Section 32 authority to purchase additional dairy products for distribution through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP),” the lawmakers urged. The economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to increase strain on the charitable food system, and the purchases will “will help ensure those in need receive critical nutrition during this challenging period,” they said.
A key issue the dairy industry is concerned about relates the level of school closures that have taken place, reducing milk demand and that may well be demand that will be lost for the sector.
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