The same issue has plagued New York state. "This is just a total waste to me," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week, as The New York Daily News reported. "We have people downstate who need food and farmers upstate who can't sell their product. We need to make that marriage between product upstate and need downstate."
Cuomo announced an initiative he calls Nourish New York, in which the state will coordinate with farmers to purchase products and send them to food banks while upstate-based companies like Chobani and Cabot Cheese will distribute their excess products to food banks and those in need, as The New York Daily News reported.
The plan earmarks $25 million for food banks to buy from the state's farms. In addition to dairy, the food banks can use the money to buy apples, potatoes and other excess produce that farmers have stored away.
