Dairy farmers and their advocates have been working for years to restore whole milk to school lunchrooms across the country.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers took notice and the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025, which provides flexibility to offer flavored and unflavored whole and 2% milk to students, is on its way to President Donald Trump\u2019s desk for signature, after approval from both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives<\/p>\n
If signed into law, the legislation is expected to assist farmers, increasingly the demand for milk across the country.<\/p>\n
But local farmers who have given up dairy farming, saying it simply wasn\u2019t profitable, wonder if current measures to assist dairy farmers are too late.<\/p>\n
Aaron Sepkowski ran the North Pocono Dairy, a major part of his family history, dating back to his great-great-great-grandfather.<\/p>\n
Sepkowski said he was forced to close the dairy in April 2023 because he was simply not making enough money to support his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in my 40s,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when the cows left, I cried.\u201d<\/p>\n
Providing whole milk to school students may benefit farmers, but it also keeps youngsters healthier, he said.<\/p>\n
Skim milk is basically a byproduct of separating cream from whole milk and historically had been discarded, he said.<\/p>\n
But whole milk not only supports developing young brains but also keeps youngsters fuller longer, he added. The idea that whole milk contributes to obesity is a myth, he said.<\/p>\n
Dairy farming as a legacy<\/p>\n
Now Sepkowski, also a Madison Township supervisor, runs a busing company, grateful that it supports his family and his employees.<\/p>\n
And yet, not one day goes by that he doesn\u2019t think about dairy farming, wishing that he had the opportunity to continue doing it.<\/p>\n
But, with small farmers facing rising costs of feed, labor and equipment and falling milk prices, Sepkowski fears for the future of small dairy farmers.<\/p>\n
Additionally, milk substitutes have also entered the market, further draining sales of dairy milk.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmond milk is not milk,\u201d he said. \u201cMilk, on the other hand, is milk. Milk is milk.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tewksbury lecture<\/p>\n
Annette Kuzma, owner of Milky-Ray Dairy Farm in Vernon, Wyoming County, stopped dairy farming after the death of her husband Ray in 2024.<\/p>\n
But, the Kuzmas faced the economic challenges of dairy farming for over a decade, which included an inequitable pricing formula that minimized profits for small dairy farmers.<\/p>\n
Kuzma remembers her husband being in the hospital, where he was served skim milk with his lunch.<\/p>\n
Ray Kuzma, known for being a quiet man, didn\u2019t hesitate to request to speak with the dietician who came up to his hospital room.<\/p>\n
It was then that he delivered the \u201cTewksbury lecture,\u201d she said, referencing Arden Tewksbury, a long-time advocate for dairy farmers who frequently touted the benefits of whole milk.<\/p>\n
Annette Kuzma said serving whole milk in schools makes common and nutritional sense.<\/p>\n
In addition, Kuzma believes student athletes should drink whole chocolate milk as a recovery drink, rather than Gatorade or other similar drinks.<\/p>\n
Dairy farmers anticipate that Trump will sign the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 into law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe long wait is over. Whole milk is coming back to schools,\u201d\u00a0 said Michael Dykes, president and CEO of International Dairy Farmers Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dairy farmers and their advocates have been working for years to restore whole milk to school lunchrooms across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,2943],"class_list":{"0":"post-77468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-lackawanna-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-scranton","13":"tag-scranton-headlines","14":"tag-scranton-news","15":"tag-wyoming-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}