Struggling Farmers Turn Excess Milk Into Cheese And Yogurt For The Hungry

buy canada goose jacket cheap On a beautiful sunny day recently in south Lancaster County, Pa., farmer Abner Stolztfus and seven of his eight children were Canada Goose online inside, bottling yogurt in a room next to the barn. “The younger one is only 2 months old, so she’s not working out here yet,” he said, laughing. buy canada goose jacket cheap

Canada Goose sale Stolztfus and his family canada goose store own Cedar Dream dairy farm in the town of Peach Bottom in southeast Pennsylvania. He and his kids milk 50 cows twice a day at 5 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. His family Canada Goose sale has been farming for generations. Canada Goose sale

uk canada goose outlet Dairy farmers like Stolztfus have been struggling financially during the past few years. While new technologies have allowed farms to produce more milk, fewer people are consuming it. That’s causing milk prices to plummet and creating a surplus that often ends up going to waste. According to the Center for Dairy Excellence, Pennsylvania lost 120 dairy farms in 2016. In that same year, dairy farmers across the country dumped 43 million gallons of excess milk. uk canada goose outlet

So buy canada goose jacket cheap last year, Stolztfus decided to invest almost $200,000 in equipment and learned buy canada goose jacket how to make yogurt from scratch. Today, he produces about 3,000 pounds of milk and yogurt a week. His No. 1 seller is drinkable yogurt, a light but creamy, all natural yogurt.

uk canada goose Things were not easy at the beginning, though. With an upset market, he struggled to find customers until an unlikely client emerged: Philabundance, the local nonprofit that turns food waste into donations. uk canada goose

canada goose black friday sale Forty percent of all food produced in the United States ends up in landfills. Yet in Philadelphia, 1 in 5 residents doesn’t have enough to eat. To combat waste and help feed hungry people, Philabundance is rescuing perfectly good milk that was going to be dumped to make cheese and yogurt for families in need. In the cheap Canada Goose process, it helps farmers like Stolztfus. canada goose black friday sale

Canada Goose Outlet “We are testing out canada goose coats on sale a new model with him where we work with another farmer to source excess skim milk from his butter production,” said Kait Bowdler, director of sustainability at Philabundance. “Every time you Canada Goose Jackets produce butter, there’s the whey and the skim that’s left over, and a lot of that ends up being thrown out.” Canada Goose Outlet

canada goose uk outlet Skim milk can be processed into other products, such as cheese or yogurt. But because dairy farmers are struggling, they are left with no money to pay for that processing and end up dumping it. The same happens with other types of milk. canada goose uk outlet

canada goose uk shop “Think about it: Cows still produce the same amount of milk no matter what you use it for, and if a co op says that you can only produce a certain amount Canada Goose Outlet or that Canada Goose Parka they can buy a certain amount, you end up canada goose clearance sale having to throw that out,” Bowdler said. canada goose uk shop

canada goose clearance sale Last year, food banks statewide came up with an idea. Using funding from the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System and donations from the dairy industry, they got 12 tanker loads of surplus milk that a local co op was going to dump. (Milk transport trucks can hold anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 gallons.) They took the rescued milk to local cheesemakers and made thousands of pounds to give away free at food pantries and shelters. For farmers, it meant total revenue of $165,000. canada goose clearance sale

canada goose coats on sale Philabundance purchased 27,680 pounds of that cheese for donations, but then took the idea one step further. It bought more milk to make more of the same cheese, this time to sell in fancy food stores in Philadelphia, under the brand Abundantly Good. For every pound of cheese sold, $1 goes back to the farmer to process milk into free cheese for hungry people. canada goose coats on sale

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Canada Goose Coats On Sale Giving people in need food of the same high quality as canada goose coats that sold in gourmet stores is what the whole program is really about, Bowdler said. Canada Goose Coats On Sale

Canada Goose online “It’s rebellious in a way, it’s saying that people who are poor don’t just need to take whatever you give them we can canada goose black friday sale give them a better product,” she said. Canada Goose online

canada goose coats According to Philabundance, in a year farmers have received $9,000 from retail sales the equivalent of selling 18,000 half pound units. That has allowed them to produce 3,500 pounds of cheese for donations. Because the program is a success, the organization is testing out a new product: excess skim milk yogurt. canada goose coats

Canada Goose Parka Stolztfus said leftover skim milk by itself looks canada goose deals and tastes like colored water. But with the right equipment and ingredients, it can be transformed into yogurt. Canada Goose canada goose outlet Parka

buy canada goose jacket “We pump the skim milk in there [the pasteurizing tank], we heat it up, to about 108 degrees, and we add the culture. We let it incubate for 12 hours, and we stir it back up, add the flavoring, sugars, and mix it up good, and that creates the yogurt,” he explained while canada goose overseeing bottling of the product. buy canada goose jacket

canada goose store At the end of the day, Stolztfus transforms 4,500 pounds of skim milk that might have become canada goose clearance waste into 4,500 pints of drinkable vanilla yogurt for people in need. canada goose store

canada goose “It’s canadian goose jacket a very good way to get people drinking more milk, getting dairy in them.,” Stolztfus said, “It’s a very good feeling, it makes me feel really good.” canada goose

canada goose clearance And it helps him pay his bills. For now, Philabundance is paying Stolztfus to process the excess skim milk from butter production into both drinkable and spoonable yogurt. But if the Abundantly Good program grows, the organization will try to sell the yogurt in stores, and have the retail sales https://www.canadagoosestorevip.com pay for food donations. canada goose clearance

cheap canada goose uk In July, a new retail product will debut: spiced tomato jam. Proceeds from sales of the jam, produced in collaboration with TBJ Gourmet, will go to provide tomato sauce and soup donations for people in need cheap canada goose uk.