Trump says US will buy $3billion
worth of dairy, meat and produce
from farmers to give to food banks
and kitchens starting next week
Reuters & Daily Mail [UK],
by
Maxine Shen
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
5/10/2020 11:16:26 AM
President Donald Trump tweeted that, next week, the United States would buy $3billion worth of dairy, meat and produce from farmers during the economic upheaval caused by coronavirus. Trump said the food would be given to food banks and kitchens. Trump's tweet came as unemployment soars and the prices that slaughterhouses pay farmers for animals have fallen in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Food bank distribution events around the country have seen unprecedented lines, with people waiting for hours in their cars, as millions of people have been left suddenly jobless and dependent on food giveaways.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
GoodDeal 5/10/2020 11:32:42 AM (No. 406997)
Great decision. It is such a waste to see dairy farmers flushing fresh milk down the drain. God only knows how many farm animals were put down and buried too. Waste not want not and feeding the hungry in these times is a blessed decision.
18 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 5/10/2020 11:35:05 AM (No. 407002)
At least it won't go to waste. Unless the people picking it up at food banks turn around and try to sell it for drugs.
15 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
pros7767 5/10/2020 11:40:55 AM (No. 407014)
This from the man the Dems call cold-hearted.
Brilliant move Mr. President, not only for the farmers but also for the people!
19 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 5/10/2020 11:55:44 AM (No. 407029)
I hate to see food going to waste. There ought to be a real, hard look at how to get regulations out of the way an let this food get into the grocery stores or directly to consumers some innovative way.
11 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Quigley 5/10/2020 12:09:00 PM (No. 407047)
This will also likely end the stories about food banks the crimenemedia have been running.
10 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
curious1 5/10/2020 12:24:54 PM (No. 407068)
You can rest assured that over 95% of the food logistics problems are a result of government regulation and interference, sometimes to accommodate the regulatory bureaucrat's cronies.
This is a good time to delete more than 90% of the government's regulations and ask again, publicly, where the federal or state constitution gave the government the authority to interfere in our lives to that degree, if is a bunch of Karen's and Chad's think it's just fine.
14 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Fireball27 5/10/2020 1:03:46 PM (No. 407126)
I've been saying this for a long time. Let the government buy the food from the farmers and ranchers, and then freeze dry it. They can use the money from foreign aid to set it all up. We can help feed the whole world if we want, and not line the pockets of those governments who take the aid money for themselves. Freeze dried food is very light and we could transport lots of it without any of it going bad. We could even set up a "strategic food reserve" like the oil reserve. Don't let that food go to waste. Keep the farmers and ranchers working, and making money. Please let the President know about this idea. I'm sure he could make something like this work.
8 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
anniebc 5/10/2020 1:32:40 PM (No. 407155)
Wouldn't it be nice if the farmers were able to sell directly to us? Imagine the price of everything they sell being a lot lower for those who could buy directly from them.
9 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
DVC 5/10/2020 1:59:14 PM (No. 407187)
#8, nice idea, and it is attractive, but when you think a bit more, most farmers wouldn't want the hassle of selling direct, most of us wouldn't want the hassle of buying direct. Suppose you needed to drive 30 miles to get to the dairy farm to get a gallon of milk, and bring your own jugs? And the farmer had to have someone standing by, a parking lot and and all to fill jugs with milk?
The system we have, ship to distributors in large quantities, like tanker trucks, then repackage in sizes suitable for the end users, then put in an 'end user distribution center' worked great.
Sundance at CTH pointed out a few weeks ago that the problem is that packages "suitable for the end users" and "end user distribution centers" are very different for homes and restaurants. 5 gallon milk and 25 lbs bags of cheese, and #10 cans of everything don't work for homes. And there is a shortage of 1 gallon, 1/2 gallon milk jugs and 1 lb cheese packaging material, and possibly even smaller cans. Probably the factory lines set up to fill #10 cans can't handle consumer sized small cans, too.
Shutting down restaurants means that the entire food supply chain from farmer to packager to distributor is shut down and they can't easily provide food in useful sizes to consumers. And there are laws in some cases in the way, too.
It's a mess, and no really simple, easy answers. Trump's method may permit the food to be distributed via these food banks, but I wonder about repackaging...how will that work? Will the state laws permit the food banks repackaging?
4 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
TJ54 5/10/2020 3:01:19 PM (No. 407237)
Media and Dems have the sads
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Venturer 5/10/2020 5:00:24 PM (No. 407340)
the prices that slaughterhouses pay farmers for animals have fallen
The prices in the grocery stores haven't fallen.
5 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 5/10/2020 7:52:17 PM (No. 407435)
#11, assuming that there is a straight connection between the slaughterhouses and the grocery stores is the mistake everyone is making.
Something like half of meat is NOT headed towards grocery stores, it is headed towards restaurants.
With the restaurants closed, the slaughterhouses have excess meat animals being offered, more than they want. So, like in any free market, the prices drop - over supply now.
The fact that the groceries aren't dropping prices probably means that they aren't seeing any price reductions from their suppliers....even though live meat is cheap. Why would that happen? Keep all your expenses the same and process half the meat....that means you divide your costs by half as much sales...prices aren't going to drop until they can get back cranked up and running full output.
Everything in the supply chain is effed up badly now. The restaurant closings have hosed up everything pretty badly.
1 person likes this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
OK state mom 5/10/2020 8:32:47 PM (No. 407465)
#8 there are a few farmer to consumer producers but you have to look for them in. Off I35 north of Denton, Tx there is a dairy that sells direct to consumer. A little further north and back west on Hwy 82 in the town of Muenster, Tx is a family meat market, Fischer's, that has been in business since 1927. They raise ALL their own beef, process is, sell it in their grocery store. The beef has never been more than 10 miles from the meat market. Braum's is another farm to consumer model but they do contract out to dairymen for extra milk. Otherwise #9's comments stand.
0 people like this.
That's an excellent idea. I don't know how it is anywhere else, but here, the same old same old will reap the benefits. And if more people are on food assistance and benefits were expanded during the crisis, why are people crying over no food? Are the ones needing food the most illegals?
0 people like this.
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That's a much wiser use of funds than simply expanding food stamp benefits, which often are sold or wasted on junk food and soda.