Albritton, Simpson to Tout Food Program

By The News Service of Florida

Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson are expected this week to tout a new program that involves buying and distributing fresh food products to help people who are “food insecure.”

Albritton said Monday during a Hardee County legislative delegation meeting that he and Simpson will hold a news conference Thursday about the “Farmers Feeding Florida” program. Albritton said lawmakers this year approved $38 million for the program, which is administered by the Simpson-led Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

As an example, Albritton said the program has bought truckloads of milk from dairy farms. He said farmers, at least in some cases, would otherwise dump milk on the ground.

“As I have traveled around the state, and it doesn’t matter if the folks that I’m talking to are Republicans, if they’re Democrats, NPAs (no-party affiliation voters), independents, farmers, architects, chamber of commerce, it doesn’t matter. I have never seen any topic that generates the amount of passion and the amount of empathy and the amount of want-to-help like solving food insecurity in Florida, especially for children,” Albritton said.