Project Spilled Milk
Help Dairy Farmers and Families in Northern California
Project Spilled Milk aims to make the best out of a bad situation—that our farmers are supported, and that food gets to people who need it. All funds raised from this campaign will be used to purchase sheep milk from our local farmers, which we’ll use to make delicious yogurt to donate to Bay Area food banks.
Covid-19 has caused widespread disruption to agricultural businesses and family farms. 50% of the US food supply is consumed in restaurants and with so many restaurants closed, the impact on artisan dairy production is substantial—Bellwether Farms’ foodservice customers have not ordered since the end of March. Simply put, our network of family sheep dairies is now producing a lot more milk than we can effectively sell.
Simultaneously, the massive unemployment throughout our economy is putting unbelievable strain on our essential hunger relief organizations. Here at Bellwether Farms, we find ourselves in a unique position to help both farmers and those in need of high-quality nutrition. That’s why we are starting Project Spilled Milk.
The Need
Restaurants, schools, and universities represent the largest bulk purchasers of dairy across the United States. Since their doors have been largely closed due to the global pandemic, many dairy farmers are finding themselves with excess milk and no one to buy it.
The graph above shows the steep decline in dairy prices related to COVID-19. Class iii milk is used to make cheese and class iv is used for butter and dried dairy products. Source.
At the same time, people across the country are losing their jobs and finding themselves in need of financial and food security. Food banks are bridging the gap caused by the increasing unemployment rate and many are struggling to meet the rising demand.
The Impact
We will pledge to dedicate one production shift each week to this effort. Project Spilled Milk has the goal of raising $50,000, which will allow us to buy the milk, ingredients, and packaging necessary to deliver 25,000 16oz containers of yogurt to food banks in Northern California.
Over 10 years ago through the artisancheesefestival, I had the privilege to take a farm tour with the Callahan’s of the wonderful bellwetherfarms. Like many farms right now, they are pivoting ...
Today is a #Cheesehead's favorite day #NationalCheeseDay! And here in the North Bay we have a great selection of local cheeses such as; achadinha_cheese_ Co. (informative tours), bellwetherfarms ...
We've launched #ProjectSpilledMilk with the goal of raising $50,000 to buy milk from local farmers and to turn that milk into yogurt that will be donated to Northern California food banks. Help ...
Thank you to all who have donated to #projectspilledmilk We've raised over $7000 to save resources from being wasted and turn milk into yogurt for hungry families! Check out the link in our bio ...
A BIG thank you to everyone who has donated to Project Spilled Milk! Together, we've raised over $7,800 to support local dairy farmers and communities in need. Donate today to help us reach even ...
Help Dairy Farmers & Families in Northern California through our soon-to-be-launched #ProjectSpilledMilk
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Project Spilled Milk aims to make the best out of a bad ...
A batch of sheep milk yogurt was donated to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley @2ndharvest last week as a part of our Project Spilled Milk! #projectspilledmilk #siliconvalley #foodbanks #hungerrelief ...
Our first batch of sheep milk yogurt was donated to Alameda Food Bank @accfb last week as a part of our Project Spilled Milk! That's 800 cases -- 4800 cups of plain sheep milk yogurt -- saved ...
We greatly appreciate each and every one of you who supported #ProjectSpilledMilk 🐑 Together, we raised over $9,000 to purchase excess milk from local farmers and turn it into yogurt for food banks...
We're sending out a big batch of Bellwether Farms t-shirts to folks to donated to Project Spilled Milk! Thanks everyone for your support. To get your own limited edition shirt and support dairy ...
