Ag News: School Closures Hit Dairy Demand
**The opening of schools across the country is laced with uncertainty, creating an extremely ‘fluid’ outlook for dairy demand.
Economists with INTL FCStone says about 6% of U.S. milk solids are consumed annually by students from kindergarten through college.
Students’ biggest consumption comes in fluid milk, 14%, followed by cheese, just under 6%, and butter, about 1%.
According to milkbusiness.com, about 60% fewer meals will be served by schools this fall.
**Twenty-five members of Congress from California asked the White House last week to make more N95 respirators available to farmers and their employees.
The masks are required for outside work when air quality worsens during wildfires.
The bipartisan request asked the White House Coronavirus Task Force to work with state and local authorities to ensure farmers and farm employees have "priority access to the protective gear they need to do their essential work."
**A top meat importer China has suspended imports from some foreign meat packing plants where workers became infected with coronavirus, but not others.
Authorities in Beijing found heavy traces of the coronavirus in the meat and seafood sections of a large wholesale food market after an outbreak in June.
Though there was no evidence to show food caused the infection, officials say they can’t rule out such a risk given the rapid development of the pandemic abroad.