Faith, facts and bringing whole milk back into schools

EAST EARL, Pa. – It began with a hymn and ended with another – bookends of gratitude around a gathering that felt equal parts revival, reunion, and roll-up-your-sleeves strategy session for getting whole milk back into schools.

After treating over 70 attendees to a musical prelude, long-time advocate Bernie Morrissey moved the “Friends of Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson” event at Shady Maple Smorgasbord Monday evening, Sept. 22, into business-meeting mode with the candor that has defined his 15-year campaign alongside dairy families.

“We worked with GT to help him get the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act passed in the House in 2023,” said Bernie, noting the Pennsylvania Grassroots Dairy Advisory Committee, which he chairs, “works with zero dollars. We’re all volunteer.”

What drives Bernie, who will turn 89 in November, and only now announcing a more laid-back role?

“God has been good to me. I’ve spent my life working for the dairy industry. We care,” he said.

Bernie recalled his start during the dairy crisis of 2009, when farmers pressed him to help tackle milk-marketing and co-op power dynamics. He didn’t mince words about block voting: “Block voting means they vote for the farmer instead of farmers voting for themselves.”

His grassroots playbook has been the same ever since: “You can’t take 10 ideas to the congressman or the senator. You take one idea. You not only give him what’s wrong, you tell him how to correct it.”

For Bernie and his band of volunteers, the foremost partner who listened and went to work is Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, now chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and the first Pennsylvanian to hold that role in over 150 years.

“The only man who can help you is the man sitting right there, my good friend GT,” Bernie said, pointing and retracing their first meeting and the past decade spent educating others about whole milk.

“When GT took the floor, he praised the farmer-driven 97 Milk campaign for reconnecting families, schools, and policymakers with the taste and nutrition of whole milk.

“There is no better program in the world when it comes to whole milk than 97 Milk. Your work has helped sell more red caps than anything that anyone else has tried,” GT announced.

On the legislative front, he emphasized both progress and persistence. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act has passed the House Education and Workforce Committee for a second time and, for the first time, it cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee unanimously. But Senate holds have complicated the path to unanimous consent.

“They like the bill so much, they want to attach things to it, like ornaments on a Christmas tree. That’s not going to work,” said GT. “We have a friend in the majority leader, finding a pathway forward for Whole Milk for Healthy Kids. This bill isn’t mandatory. It’s a choice. It doesn’t force-feed any child anything.”

Asked how the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Strategy impacts whole milk in schools, GT explained the strategy explicitly names whole milk in deregulation language. Prior administrations tried to expand even the 1% milk offering, and ran into court challenges.

“With the Trump Administration, it wouldn’t surprise me they would find a pathway to add whole milk,” he said. “The only problem is it only lasts as long as the administration does.”

That’s why the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act remains essential: to codify the choice into law, securing it beyond shifting political winds.

GT also described progress on the Farm Bill. “Most people don’t realize that 80% of the Farm Bill (1.0) is now done and in law (through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act), and it represents the largest investment in our farm families since 2002,” he said, highlighting increased reference prices, more versatile crop insurance, and a dairy tweak. “For dairy farmers, we increased the dairy margin coverage (DMC) from 5 million to 6 million pounds and updated the annual production history.”

Farm Bill 2.0, still pending, contains the other 20% of the 5-year legislative package. GT said it includes reforms to the dietary guidelines advisory committee “so that we take away the opportunity for bias” against nutrient-dense foods like whole milk and other animal proteins, along with incentive programs for using whole milk in USDA nutrition programs.

He also touched on milk and dairy labeling, with the line that always lands: “As much as I have handled almonds, and I love my almonds and the almond growers, but I can’t figure out where to squeeze them to get the milk out of them. Milk comes from mammals.”

Responding to a question about small meat processors, GT described work with Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky on the “Subprime Act” pilot program, included in Farm Bill 2.0. “It basically accomplishes what Rep. Massie started out to do in a way that can pass and will be meaningful,” he said.

He also underscored the need for ongoing education around the whole milk bill after passage.

“Even after we have the victory milk toast, we need to educate parents and school boards,” he said, noting that school meal programs must be self-supporting and often shy away from whole milk because of higher costs, despite less processing.

In a moving moment, John Burket, national president of Holstein Association USA, stood to thank GT as well, telling the audience that the Association fully supports his bill. HAUSA honored him with the 2024 Distinguished Leadership Award.

 “On behalf of the National Holstein Association, we depend on you. If we can’t make a fair price for our product, none of the rest matters. What you have done for us is extremely important,” said John.

During the program, Bernie invited this reporter to update attendees on the Grassroots Pennsylvania Dairy Advisory Committee and its recent work.

Our committee includes people from across the state of Pennsylvania: Dr. Ed Silverman, M.D. of Berks County, a retired physician; Christine Ebersole, R.N. of Bedford County, a school nurse; Krista Byler of Crawford County, a school food service director; dairy farmers Nelson Troutman of Berks County, Dale Hoffman and Tricia Adams of Potter County; Mike Sensenig of Sensenig’s Feed Mill, Lancaster County; along with this reporter and Bernie as chairman. Other members have come and gone through the years, and we work alongside the 97 Milk non-profit with their own board.

Our grassroots committee recently authored a 3-page school lunch policy brief at the request of Dr. Nina Teicholz, with portions incorporated into the MAHA Commission’s Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy. It centered on whole milk but also stressed protein. “These kids need protein. They want protein. They don’t want sugary snacks,” I explained, noting that our little grassroots committee was mentioned by name among the authors and credited as a driving force behind the whole milk bill – proof that volunteer persistence can influence national policy.

Filmmakers Ben Woosley and Amberley Ruetz were also introduced. They were invited to the event by Bernie and as part of a broader future project, they are documenting the whole milk effort and 97 Milk story, another sign the movement is spreading into mainstream culture.

Bernie tipped his hat to Nelson Troutman, the farmer behind the iconic bales painted with the “Drink Whole Milk 97% Fat Free” message.

“We need to educate the consumer. Many people still think whole milk is 100% fat,” Nelson said, reporting later that he spoke with a nurse in attendance who admitted it was the first time she learned whole milk is standardized at 3.25% fat. “I like to keep it simple. Nutritious, delicious whole milk. Reach for the red cap.” (More on Nelson in a future Farmshine.)

From Virginia, 7th generation dairy farmer Thad Montgomery traveled north with his wife and two of their children. Bernie invited them after reading Thad’s op-ed in Farmshine about the history of low-fat / fat-free milk promotion via the mandatory dairy checkoff program and the Dietary Guidelines that led to removing whole milk from schools.

 Thad offered a small family farm perspective on industry consolidation and labeling integrity. He called the dairy cow “a testament to the nourishing sustainability of God’s creation” and urged better standards of identity, Country of Origin Labeling, and flexibility for small processors – all to ensure honest food and fair prices for family farms.

In short, the evening wasn’t just an update; it was a celebration of faith, facts, and a grassroots community that refuses to quit.

It was also an opportunity for Bernie to pass the torch, without letting go completely of the flame, his passion to serve. He thanked those who have carried the effort this far.

“God has blessed me with a wonderful family and a successful business, and I want to thank you for that, and that’s why I do this as a volunteer,” he said.

He passed the torch to one of his four daughters, Kori Pennypacker, who will continue fundraising and outreach as she also works with the Bible2School effort.

Bernie closed by singing the hymn: “It will be worth it… the toil of the road will seem nothing when you get to the end of the way.”

It felt less like a goodbye than a commissioning. The work goes on, the circle widens, and even when a victory milk toast is finally raised, this grassroots team will still have more calls to make, more relationships to build, and more people to inform, and Bernie intends to see it happen.

(Bernie Morrissey thanked his co-sponsors and co-hosts for the evening that helped him raise over $32,000 for Friends of GT. Co-sponsoring with Bernie were Scott Sechler of Bell & Evans Chicken and Larry and Sally Martin of Zook Ag Nutritional Products. Co-hosts included John Burket of Holstein Association USA, Ron Kreider of Kreider Farms, Chris Hoffman of Lazy Hog Farms, Rob Barley of Star Rock Farms, Craig, Tim and Jason Morrissey of Morrissey Insurance, MeeCee Baker and Caleb Wright of Versant Strategies, Gerald Reichard of Keystone Crop Insurance, Calvin Ewell of Ewell Trucking, Greg Eshelman of Eshelman Bus Co., Jeremy and Joshua Martin of Farmer Boy Ag, William and Lolly Lesher of Wayhar Farms, Jim Vizzard of MidAtlantic Seeds, Glenn Wenger of Wenger Farm Machinery; Dr. Ed and Mary Silverman, Debra Dunn of Lancaster School of Cosmetology, and Michael Miley, Financial Advisor. Bernie also thanked Dave Smith of the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association for attending and Dieter Krieg, founder and editor of Farmshine, as well as thanking all who came out for the evening.)