Eastern Iowa Farmer Fall 2020

coronavirus
“When the bottom
dropped out, everybody
shut the pens off. It’s
not just affecting me
but the local guys
around me. We were
all in the same boat. It
definitely changed the
ball game.”
Chuck Ernst, coordinator of the
Bellevue Bread Basket, unloads
produce from the USDA’s Farmers
to Families program that will be
distributed to the community.
Ernst said the food pantry saw
a 20 percent increase when the
pandemic started.
Eastern Iowa Farmer photo /
Trevis Mayfield
— Dennis Schroeder
are, nobody is selling,” Donny
said.
One positive was that the
meat packing shutdowns
happened about the time it was
fertilizer season, so that kept
them busy, Dennis said.
By early June, the firm was
hauling 22 to 25 loads of livestock
a week, its normal pace
compared with four or five loads
earlier in the spring, he said.
“When the bottom dropped
out, everybody shut the pens
off. It’s not just affecting me
but the local guys around me.
We were all in the same boat.
It definitely changed the ball
game,” said Dennis, who started
his business hauling grain and
fertilizer in 1980. When Donny
and his other son, Travis, joined
him, they began hauling livestock.
Two other owner-operators
also work for the company.
He and others in the trucking
and ag industries make their
livelihoods playing a crucial
role in the food supply chain.
The COVID-19 outbreak was
not something for which they
had planned.
“I told the boys you better
tighten your belts,” Dennis
said. n
Farmers to Families
USDA program gets ag products to the
‘people who really need it’
BY sara millhouse
eastern iowa farmer
Three billion dollars in U.S.
Department of Agriculture aid
aims to help people on both ends
of the food chain during the
COVID-19 crisis: farmers hit
hard by rock-bottom prices and volatile markets,
and the millions of Americans unsure
of where their next meal is coming from.
As Maquoketa-area farmer Joe Heinrich
puts it, “Hunger in this country shouldn’t
happen. We have an ample food supply in
this country. We just have to figure out how
to get it to people.”
The USDA’s Farmers to Families food
boxes program tries to streamline that supply
chain, paying contractors to deliver boxes of
fresh produce, dairy and meat to organizations
feeding the hungry. The program was
launched in April.
Heinrich sells milk to Prairie Farms,
which contracted with the USDA to provide
milk, cheese and other dairy products to
those battling hunger. Prairie Farms’ initial
$27-million contract was extended in the
second round of the program.
While Prairie Farms and its farmers managed
to avoid dumping milk, others in the
dairy industry were plagued by oversupply
and being unable to pivot their distribution.
Heinrich called the Farmers to Families
program an “awesome idea,” contrasting it
favorably to European Union stockpiling.
When perishable products neared the end
70 Eastern Iowa Farmer | fall 2020 eifarmer.com