Healthy Milk Act Could Result In $2B For Dairy Farmers

Earlier this month, President Trump signed the Healthy Milk for Kids Act marked a major victory for kids as well as dairy farmers.  Gregg Doud, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, said he couldn’t have been more pleased with the support the bill received in Washington D.C.

“We got 100 US senators, unanimous consent, support of this," Doud said.  "We had a couple holdouts. It was a huge amount of work. Cannot thank Senator Marshall enough for all and Chairman Bozeman (and) GT Thompson in the House. An unbelievable effort, but we got this done. This is a real big deal for kids in schools.”

Doud said new data indicates it’s also a big deal for embattled dairy farmers.

“There has been some analysis by, I won't name them, but they're one of the biggest purveyors of milk in schools in America," Doud said.  "Their estimate is that it'll take somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 million to implement this because, you know, whole milk costs a little bit more than skim milk, so you know, we're talking about a penny or two, but soaking up that fat and whole milk versus 1% in terms of demand, the calculation is that that could add $2 billion to the milk checks of U.S. dairy farmers.”

In the end of the day, Doud said it really is all about the kids.

“Nutritionally, this is a huge deal. Anybody that grew up on a farm understands this," he said.  "We understand that this is a far superior product. And, you know, we're thrilled to finally get this fixed after all these years, and get this change…we're righting a historic wrong in terms of feeding our kids in this country.”

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