New legislation has been introduced in Wisconsin that would require school districts to serve real butter in school meal programs.

State Senator Howard Marklein is the Senate author of the bill. He says, “Representative Todd Novak and I have drafted a bill, and it’s being circulated right now, which basically says that you can’t serve margarine in our schools.”

Marklein tells Brownfield the bill was drafted after meeting with farmers at a local Farm Bureau chapter meeting, after a student had brought home the margarine packets from school lunch. “The school district was serving margarine in their lunch program and, of course, these dairy farmers, and there were several in that crowd, were very upset. Here you are in a rural area. Those dairy farmers pay a lot of property taxes to that school district.”

Marklein says the state already requires real butter in other government-supported meal programs, including at state prisons.  He says requiring real butter only makes sense, especially in rural areas where dairy farmers are a big supporter of school districts.

Marklein says he hopes to get the bill through the State Senate Ag Committee in November.

Source: Brownfield Ag News / Larry Lee