Lively Run Dairy has been helping the milk surplus crisis

Over the course of the last few months, the global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many forms of waste and destruction in the food industry. Many meatpacking and dairy processing plants across the nation have been forced to close their doors due to the spread of the virus and sick employees. Since these plants are not functioning, farmers have no choice but to euthanize the overstock of animals they have, as well as dumping surpluses of milk.

According to culturecheesemag.com, they state, “cheesemakers big and small have ceased purchasing fluid milk, as cheese sales have plummeted and facilities have halted production in the name of worker safety. Schools, office cafeterias, and many restaurants have shuttered in an effort to halt the spread of COVID-19. There’s almost nowhere for new milk to go.”

As devastating as this news is, there has been efforts made by dairy suppliers to combat the waste of milk. One of DineMarket’s suppliers, Lively Run Dairy, has come up with a plan to help make sure no milk is being wasted. Lively Run Dairy is a family owned business that offers fresh farm-to-table dairy products. When they started noticing the effects COVID-19 was having on dairy supply, they knew they had to help.

Lively Run Dairy has organized a fundraiser in order to make cheese from surplus milk, and donate it towards food banks. The money that they have raised has gone towards subsidizing the surplus of milk from farms, and to cover the production costs of cheese. Anyone who has also made a donation towards the fundraiser, will receive a small portion of cheese as a thank you.

With a huge success of donations, Lively Run Dairy was able to raise over $40,000! The money raised allowed for 150 pounds of cheese to be donated to food banks such as: Interlaken Food Pantry, Ovid Food Pantry, Lodi Food Pantry, Press Bay Friendship Food Pantry, and the Trumansburg Food Pantry. Another 400 pounds of cheese was also donated to several other food banks in the beginning of May.

To stay up to date on Lively Run Dairy’s contribution to help sustain milk supply, visit their website at https://livelyrun.com.
For any donations towards the cause, visit their Go Fund Me page at https://www.gofundme.com.