Family Food Bytes
USDA TO PURCHASE $50 MILLION OF MILK (Ag Web) – USDA will purchase 12 to 15 million gallons of fat free, low-fat, reduced fat and whole milk to help shore up struggling dairy farmers and provide fluid milk to Americans in need. USDA will distribute it to food assistance programs and food banks across the U.S. The purchase is not part of USDA’s recently announced tariff aid package.
$2.16 BILLION DEAL BETWEEN KEYSTONE FOODS AND TYSON (Wall Street Journal) – Tyson Foods announced it was buying Keystone Foods. The purchase will allow Tyson to expand its current business by selling meat to fast-food chains and adding processing plants to its network in the U.S. and Asia.
FIRM CREATING WHEAT-BASED DRINKING STRAWS (FarmWeek) - A startup company, HAY! Straws, is marketing drinking straws made from wheat stems to replace plastic straws that are being banned, according to Bloomberg. The company is working with farmers in the U.S., Southeast Asia and South America to obtain a supply of wheat stems. The company cuts and rinses the wheat stems in sterile water before shipping them.
LAWMAKERS PUSH THE MILE DRIVING TAX (Illinois Policy Institute) – Gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker has introduced the idea of a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax in Illinois. Pritzker isn’t the first lawmaker to suggest this tax, however. In 2016, Senate President John Cullerton introduced a VMT tax requiring drivers to install tracking devices to monitor mileage.
About Family Food Bytes: This is a collection of articles gathered from both mainstream and agriculture media and is designed to keep you informed as a member and leader within the Cook County Farm Bureau organization. The articles summarized above are not intended to represent Cook County Farm Bureau policy or positions, but rather to provide members an idea of what is being reported regionally, nationally, and globally.