iPolitics By Kelsey Johnson. Published on Jan 11, 2021 10:22am Director Cathy Allison goes over a stocking schedule in the shelving room at the Markham Food Bank. Dec. 15, 2020 Good morning and welcome to the Sprout, where it’s National Milk Day and National Hot Toddy Day, so drink up! Also, if you’re looking to get rid of your needle-shedding Christmas tree, a local goat would likely be more than happy to “munch” it off your hands. Here’s today’s agriculture news. The Lead As the Globe and Mail reports, food banks in Alberta are calling for legislative and regulatory changes that would treat food banks as an essential service during times of an emergency which advocates say they have been requesting for decades. Meanwhile, food banks in Ontario say the coronavirus pandemic has unveiled a patchwork approach that has created challenges for some organizations, particularly those located in smaller communities.