Welch urged Republicans to support USDA’s school nutrition and dairy support programs.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—In an Agriculture Committee hearing today focused on U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.)’s Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, Sen. Welch celebrated Vermont’s dairy farmers and students and called for passage of this bipartisan, bicameral bill. Senator Welch also urged his colleagues to support school nutrition programs, including those championed by former Senator Leahy, which benefit students and local farmers.
“Kids are hungry and it’s through no fault of their own…It is really reassuring to me that we’re taking up this bill about whole milk. It’s about whole milk. It’s about our farmers. It’s about an acknowledgment that school is a place where kids get the opportunity to get some decent nutrition. It doesn’t matter what our politics are—we all care about our kids, right? …Whole food tends to be more locally produced. The virtuous cycle that happens when you are getting local products, milk from Vermont dairy (or Kansas dairy, or West Virginia) or vegetables grown locally, that is healthy food, but it’s also locally produced and strengthens the rural economy. All of us, in every one of our states, is really suffering from incredible pressures on the rural economy that is making life very difficult there,” said Senator Peter Welch.
“I hope that as we pursue this—this whole milk opportunity for our kids and for our farmers—that it is the beginning of the real commitment to nutritious, locally produced, natural foods as being a much bigger part of what our diet is,” continued Welch.
Watch the hearing here:
Senator Welch also questioned witness Dan Gorman, Food Service Director of Montague Area Public and North Muskegon Public Schools, about the importance of food programs created by Senator Welch’s predecessor, former Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee Patrick Leahy, which have lost funding as a consequence of President Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans:
Senator Welch: “Mr. Gorman, my predecessor in the United States Senate from Vermont is that man who’s staring at us right from his picture up there: former Chairman of the Agriculture Committee Patrick Leahy. And we in Vermont are very proud of all he did. One of his many accomplishments was the Patrick Leahy farm-to-school [program]…That was terminated for the rest of this fiscal year and my understanding understand is it will be reinstated next year. Can you just comment on the benefit of Senators Leahy’s legacy program that was supported with a strong bipartisan majority in the United States Senate?”
Mr. Gorman: “Thank you for that question. It really is. We were a recipient of the grant probably 5 or 6 years ago, and we had applied again this coming year and got that notice that it was cancelled. So, it was really crushing to us. It is a jumpstart to local food movements. I think about over our past 10-15 years, it started us building towards figuring out the local infrastructure and getting more local food and starting school gardens. Over the past five years we’ve gotten private and public grants in our county—over $2 million to move on this issue, to get kids so they understand what local food is, to make those connections. We’re starting a food processing plant in Muskegon County with the goal of getting local Michigan potatoes diced and frozen so we can get them on every plate in Muskegon County and beyond. All of that started with that farm-to-school grant that we got 10 years ago as a cooperative to start putting those pieces together.”
The bipartisan, bicameral Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, led by Senator Roger Marshall, MD (R-Kan.), would support America’s students and dairy farmers by allowing schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to offer students whole milk, in addition to reduced-fat, low-fat, fat-free, and lactose-free milk.
Senator Welch recently joined Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and 15 of his Democratic colleagues in introducing the Honor Farmer Contracts Act, legislation to release illegally withheld funding for all contracts and agreements previously entered into by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This bill would require the USDA to pay farmers all past-due payments as quickly as possible to prevent them from having to shut down their operations. Last week, Senator Welch and 30 Senators called on Secretary Rollins urging USDA to support local food for schools and local food system grant programs.
As Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, Senator Welch has led bipartisan efforts to support Vermont’s dairy farmers and strengthen the state’s dairy industry. Senator Welch introduced several bills in the 118th Congress to support Vermont’s dairy, organic, and specialty crop farmers; strengthen rural development and infrastructure; increase energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption; improve access to nutrition; strengthen our local food systems and expand markets; and make our communities more resilient to flooding. These bills were included in Senate Democrats’ draft Farm Bill, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act.
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