When Florida's schools and restaurants shut down, dairy farmers were forced to dump millions of gallons of perfectly good milk — while families just miles away went hungry. In this episode of Stick a Fork in It, Andrea McClellan from M&B Dairy pulls back the curtain on what really happens on a Florida dairy farm, and the bill that's finally fixing a heartbreaking problem.
From the daily life of a dairy cow (milked three times a day, treated "like princesses") to the science behind easier-to-digest A2 milk, Andrea shares why she calls milk "the most perfect beverage.” She also delves into why keeping Florida agriculture whole matters for every single Floridian.
We dig into the Farmers Feeding Florida bill: the program that rescued 30 loads of milk during spring break alone and is keeping nearly 100 loads of milk in the state this summer. Because of the efforts of Farmers Feeding Florida, that milk is getting to Florida food banks and the families who need it most, instead of being dumped or shipped out of state.
In this episode:
- What a day on a 700-cow Florida dairy farm actually looks like
- Why farmers were forced to dump milk during COVID and hurricanes
- A2 milk explained — and the push for "perfect," lactose-free milk
- How Farmers Feeding Florida turns waste into meals for families
- Why 80%+ of Florida agriculture is family farms — and what we lose if they disappear Florida's approach is now being studied by other states. This episode gets into why.