Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) | Photo Courtesy of Adam Niemerg
Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) | Photo Courtesy of Adam Niemerg
Illinois State Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) is working to raise awareness for National Dairy Month which occurs during June.
"This month we celebrate all things dairy in Illinois, like milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt and more! What’s your favorite dairy-based treat?" Niemerg wrote in a June 20 Facebook post.
On his official website, Niemerg shared a link to a release from Farm Progress which detailed how Illinois farmers celebrate National Dairy Month. The publication noted that the Illinois Milk Producers Association has several events planned throughout the month. One is a dairy donation event which will see IMPA donate milk to food banks for local residents. The organization is also set to host the Diary Tech Tour in July. A graphic in the article notes that Clinton, Stephenson, Washington, Jo Daviess and McLean counties were the top five milk producing counties in 2022.
The International Dairy Foods Association notes 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, according to Brownfield Ag News. Tasha Bunting, executive director of IMPA said that this isn’t 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,” Bunting said. “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 and posted: "#June is National #Dairy Month. Did you now Illinois is home to more than 780 dairy farms?"
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