FaunaClassifieds - View Single Post - Coronavirus forces Florida farmers to scrap food they can’t sell
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Old 04-10-2020, 03:03 PM   #2
bcr229
Milk and eggs have the same problem. Cows don't stop producing and chickens don't stop laying just because all of the restaurants are closed. Unfortunately the logistics of delivery to the commercial/wholesale/education markets is very different from delivery to the retail market, and the processing & packaging companies are not set up to move from one to the other in an instant.

Take cheese as an example. In the grocery store it's packaged in 8 oz or 1 pound blocks or sandwich slices, or small (under 2 pound) packages of grated cheese. Restaurants get it in 10-20 pound packages of shedded or sandwich slices, or huge wheels, and most consumers don't want that much even if you can freeze it easily.

Milk is often sold in 5-gal bibs or in kegs and again, most households can't use that much before it spoils. At schools it's sold by the pint for children's lunches, but again most consumers don't want that, they want gallons and half gallons.

Ice cream for restaurants comes in large pails which physically won't fit in a typical household freezer.

Restaurants get eggs in 30-egg flats so again, not household-friendly.

Theoretically the milk cows and egg-laying chickens could be sent to slaughter but their value as meat animals is low, and once everything does recover it takes years to produce and raise a heifer to where she's productive. So, farmers aren't going to be quick about culling herds because they can't replace animals quickly.

Milk dumping isn't exactly a new concept, and many processing plants pay the farmers for dumped milk to ensure they have a regular supply when they need it. It's still painful to watch when there's none on the grocery store shelves though.