MADISON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) — As coronavirus forces unemployment rates to climb, food banks are getting busier. As restaurant and school closures continue, so does the gap in consumer demand that has forced some dairy farms to dump out milk.

Several Wisconsin groups are trying to address both of the problems at once.

“We felt like we could do something for the community, but then also for our farmers 3:31 so it was kind of two different tracks that we're going down,” said Jason Feist, vice president of customer acquisition at Rural Mutual Insurance.

The company is focusing on raising money for Feeding Wisconsin — an organization that works with food banks around the state.

So far they've raised $17,000 for Feeding Wisconsin to use to buy dairy products made from milk that would otherwise be dumped.

“Get them into a food pantry for families in need so we're helping our communities that way, but then it also opens up that pipeline so these processors again have a need for milk and so that helps the dairy farmer,” Feist said.

It's one part of the project called Wisconsin Food and Farm Support Fund.

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau is also part of the project. It's raising money for a fund called Harvest of Hope — which helps farm families in hard times.

The dairy industry is struggling during the pandemic, which is why the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin joined the food and farm support fund.

“Basically our job is matchmaker, we align the needs of the food banks with the capacity issues that some of our processors have,” said Patrick Goeghan, executive vice president of industry relations for Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.

Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin and DATCP have been able to connect processors with food banks to buy products consumers aren't buying right now — Items that would have gone to schools and restaurants.

The effort helps the dairy industry now, but also importantly keeps it going for when the pandemic ends.

“The dairy industry is an unusual industry in that you can't shut it down, if you do there won't be anything left when you turn it back on,” Goeghan said.

The fund helps buy the products so farmer get paid, then food banks distribute the food to people who are struggling to afford meals.

Feeding Wisconsin works with food banks in all 72 counties across the state.

“It absolutely goes throughout the state of Wisconsin and obviously the more we can raise the more help we can do no matter where someone is here in our state,” Feist said.

You can donate or learn more about how to help online.

Or you can help Harvest of Hope online.