Schools struggling to provide lunches

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Schools struggling to provide lunches

The President of Missouri Farm Bureau says schools are having trouble providing lunches to students.

Garrett Hawkins tells Brownfield it’s coming down to labor shortages.

“The disruptions we’re seeing in school districts across the state, and really across the country, aren’t a symptom of a food supply shortage,” Hawkins said. “They’re, in fact, a symptom of disruptions in the supply chain.”

He said the disruptions have forced schools to get more creative with less.

“One young man told me ‘Mr. Garrett, I’m a little tired of eating ham this past week because we had it three times’ and there’s only so much you can do with it and the last time it was rolled up and put on a hotdog bun,” he said. “I would say it’s a testament to the school lunch professionals who are bound and determined to make sure our kids get fed.”

Hawkins said his school district received its first shipment of government commodities last week…

“Those are commodities that should have been there at the start of the school year,” he said. “But they, like many other school districts, are experiencing delays.”

Hawkins said while local projects like MO-Beef for MO Kids have helped, the problem won’t be fixed until jobs are filled.

Garrett Hawkins Interview

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