Illinois state Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) | repniemerg.com
Illinois state Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) | repniemerg.com
In a June 20 Facebook post, Illinois state Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) shared information about Dairy Month.
"This month we celebrate all things dairy in Illinois, like milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt and more!" the legislator said in the post. "What’s your favorite dairy-based treat? #DairyMonth."
On his official website, Niemerg shared a link to a Farm Progress release that focused on how Illinois farmers celebrate Dairy Month. The release noted that the Illinois Milk Producers Association (IMPA) has several events planned throughout the month. One of those is a dairy donation event that will see IMPA donate milk to food banks for local residents. The organization is also set to host the Diary Tech Tour in July. Additionally, a graphic in the article noted that Clinton, Stephenson, Washington, Jo Daviess and McLean counties were the top five milk-producing counties in 2022.
IMPA noted that National Dairy Month began in 1937 as National Milk Month as a way to encourage people to drink milk and stabilize the demand for dairy.
In early June, the Illinois Milk Producers Association donated more than 2,000 half-gallon containers of milk, and nearly 400 half gallons of lactose-free milk to the Central and Eastern Illinois Food Banks, Brownfield Ag News reported. Tasha Bunting, executive director of IMPA, stated that this is not a one-time thing.
“What we are hoping to do is bring a little more awareness to milk consumption, the value, the contribution and just the overall health that dairy brings to our communities,” she told Brownfield. “This is a way to help bring those communities that maybe are a little more food insecure the products that they are needing. We worked with Prairie Farms, who’s been very generous in helping us secure product and work on getting us the tools that we need to be able to hopefully build upon it for the future and growing a program for more distribution and donation.”
On June 1, Awake Illinois shared a piece of milk-related trivia on Twitter.
"#June is National #Dairy Month," the tweet said. "Did you now Illinois is home to more than 780 dairy farms?"
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