Dairy Industry Updates and Activations
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Final Days to Nominate a Hoosier Hero!
In the spirit of the Month of May, and the traditional winner’s drink of milk, help us to honor and support those most impacted by COVID-19. Nominate a Hoosier Hero in your community and in turn, our partners will donate funds to Indiana Food Banks in the name of our Hoosier Heroes. Plus, you can also help during a time of need by donating directly to Indiana Food Banks. Nominate and donate by May, 25, 2020. Special thanks to our friends at Corteva Agriscience and Farm Credit Mid America for their contributions to Feeding Indiana's Hungry and the food bank network!
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ADAI Updates
- Virtual Farm Tour with Quenton Nelson: Last Thursday, we coordinated a private, virtual dairy farm tour with our official Fuel Up To Play 60 (FUTP60) Player Ambassador, Quenton Nelson of the Indianapolis Colts to Homestead Dairy and Superior Dairy with Jill Houin and Debbie Haynes. He was able to learn about what it takes to be a dairy farmer and understand more about conventional and robotic milking. After the virtual farm tour, Quenton joined a question & answer session with over 70 FUTP60 students and program advisors, who were selected for reaching the official FUTP60 Touchdown School status this past school year. Quenton was excited to share stories with them, answer all their questions, and discuss the importance of eating healthy dairy foods, staying physically active, and doing well in school.
- Donating Milk: ADAI partners Prairie Farms and Gleaner's Food Bank teamed up to donate 10,000 gallons of milk to the Mega Fresh Mobile food distribution event on May 16. The next drive-thru event will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 23.
- Family Resources during COVID-19: AgriNews explores ADAI's Family Resources page, created to provide creative outlets and resources for individuals to keep busy during the shelter-in-place order. Informative and fun content for families to help pass the time and learn more about where their food comes from.
- Spanish Health Safety Resources: The Indiana State Dept. of Health has created COVID-19 prevention plans and healthy habit documents in English and Spanish, specifically for migrant farm workers.
- School Grant Funding: Six additional schools are receiving grants through the national GENYOUth Emergency Grants. The six new schools that were funded are: Central Middle School in Kokomo, Christel House Academy in Indianapolis, Connersville Sr. High School in Connersville, Washington Irving Elementary School in Indianapolis, Thea Bowman Leadership Academy in Gary, Harrison Hill Elementary School in Indianapolis.
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- Total dairy retail sales continue to outpace the total store with dollars up +24% vs. one year in the latest week.
- All dairy products are growing at retail in both dollars and volume in 2020YTD with butter (+31%) registering the largest percentage growth followed by cheese (+17%) and ice cream (+13%). Milk sales are up 5% YTD and yogurt +3%.
- Dairy carriers are also posting solid retail growth, particularly pizza and cereal.
- Non-dairy milk alternatives saw growth before the pandemic and have boosted sales lifts during panic-buying and afterward. Almond is the driver while soy sales remain soft.
- On the foodservice front, traffic loses have lessened although declines continue to be hefty. Mother’s Day contributed to a small improvement for full-service restaurants as well as a reopening in some states.
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If you are a dairy farmer whose operation has been impacted by coronavirus, you are likely to be eligible for direct support through USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). CFAP provides support to producers who have suffered a five percent-or-greater price decline due to COVID-19.
Dairy farmers can apply for assistance beginning on Tuesday, May 26. Call and set up an appointment with your local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) office to determine your eligibility and to apply for this assistance.
Due in large part to the efforts of our partners at National Milk Producers Federation, the USDA has raised the initial proposed payment limit for the program, and allowed farmers using other risk management tools this year, such as the Dairy Margin Coverage program, to also receive payments through the CFAP.
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