U.S. Takes a Bite From Cheese Mountain With Stockpile Purchase
- USDA to buy $20 million of cheese, distribute to food pantries
- Milk glut has pushed dairy prices to lowest levels since 2009
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to buy $20 million of stockpiled cheese to distribute to food banks and pantries nationwide in an attempt to stem farmer losses after dairy prices plummeted amid a global milk glut earlier this year.
The purchase of about 11 million pounds of cheese, which the USDA reported Tuesday in a statement, comes in addition to $11.2 million in subsidies for dairy producers announced earlier this month. A dairy lobbying group had asked for as much $150 million in cheese purchases.