Yes, the Government Really Does Stash Billions of Pounds of Cheese in Missouri Caves The USDA has kept cheese and other dairy products in cold-storage caves for decades. Kraft Cheese Cave, Springfield. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. I was hired as a cheese grader. NOVAKOVIC: You can imagine the cheese company that's in the business of selling cheese is going to say, hey, what's the deal here? Yet part of this cheese mountain represents an enduring surplusa very literal representation of the dairy industrys mismatch with the realties of the market. give poor Americans a slice of the cheese surplus., exactly popular with all of its recipients. Other facilities like SubTropolis exist although not on the same scale, such as the abandoned mine in Butler, Pennsylvania used by Corbis and the US Federal Government for secure storage. DUFFIN: It is a case study in what happens when price controls run full speed into the realities of the market. As with any commodity, the demand for dairy fluctuates, yet the nature of dairy production makes it challenging to quickly ramp up or down production in response. The USDA helped "cut the glut" then by purchasing $20 million worth of fresh cheese. That is, until last month. MALONE: By this point, Jimmy Carter was out of office. dynamite. The 55,000,000-square-foot, 1,100-acre underground storage facility is believed to be the worlds largest site of its kind. The U.S. has too much cheese 1.4 billion pounds of it to be exact. At one point, the government was storing two pounds of cheese for every single American citizen. Theres evidence the second story was a ballroom, complete with a stage, dumbwaiter and box office window. NARA Is Up to Date in Kansas City | National Archives Winner will be selected at random on 04/01/2023. The USDA has a large presence in Kansas City, Missouri, and when it found itself with millions of pounds of surplus dairy and needed a safe, climate-controlled place to put it all, it started to search locally. Family-run for more than a century, this pizzeria makes a unique mustard pie. government cheese caves kansas citysr latch using nor gate truth table. A NASA employee needing an area to test sensitive navigational instruments was among the first official cave occupants. MALONE: One part of the solution then was to gently get that milk supply down. (Dean Russell/Here & Now) This article is more than 4 years old. Here are the 43 best kept secrets in Kansas City MALONE: Now, to be fair, that's probably not enough to start filling caves again. But I am in favor of giving farmers an equal break. The two larger caves were used by the Faris family as a spring house, generator room and, a schoolhouse as well. And it's the most government packaging you will ever see - just, like, brown cardboard, some black USDA stamps on it. Extensive limestone mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s created the millions of square feet of caves that are scattered throughout metropolitan Kansas City, in Kansas and Missouri. The easier solution - maybe - the government could just start buying a ton of milk themselves. G. DEP: (Rapping) Can't buy trees with government cheese. About 3.2 acres of available space are added each year as active mining continues. All rights reserved. That was pretty good. And before that, he was a reporter for his friend T.C. Have you fallen in love with amateur spelunking? DUFFIN: Lever 1, lower the supply - you could do what they do in Canada and say - hey, no more milk - you can only produce so much milk. It's going up because the government MALONE: And do you - you hear of it. Missouri has more than 7,000 caves under its ground, though fewer than 20 are easily accessible to most people. That number, though, pales in. 4701 Wyandotte Street. MALONE: Andy is still in the dairy world. DUFFIN: It's one thing for politicians to say, we want the price of milk to go up. Missouri's cheese caves store more than 7 million pounds of dairy. Here An eye-opening journey through the history, culture, and places of the culinary world. At the time, the distillery offered over a hundred products, which were distributed by mail order across the country. Embark on a wonderful cave tour and learn all about its history. MALONE: This must be a common confusion in the industry. The cheesy story all started in 1949, when the Agricultural Act of 1949 gave the Commodity Credit Corporation, a government-owned corporation dedicated to stabilizing farm incomes, the authority. It doesn't take long to see the three caves, but once you're here, you'll spend a long time looking and exploring. In 2016, dairy farmers resorted to simply dumping 43 million gallons of milk down the drain. Why Did the U.S. Government Amass More Than a Billion Pounds of Cheese It was this spectacle of millions of pounds of expensive cheese being processed and given away that created a popular cultural icon and an example of bad government spending. The complex contains almost 7 miles of illuminated, paved roads and several miles of railroad track. JOHN BLOCK: You see that cake of cheese? The second lesson is you got to pay attention to the unintended consequences because they can come back and bite you and bite you hard. government cheese caves kansas city - daxasys.com Rather, the "caves" are part of a 3.2-million-square-foot warehouse under part of Springfield.. Just dont forget your pillar number. The USA is hoarding cheese - Quartz If you havent spent a day wandering the streets of Weston, Missouri, youre missing out. A grader, where you do quality checks on it. NOVAKOVIC: We took a small amount of money from every dairy farmer, collected on every pound of milk they sold, and we created the National Dairy Board. DUFFIN: This was not just political pandering. Why The US Government Has Kept Over 1 Billion Pounds Of Cheese In Experience History Aboard A Guided Trolley Tour Of St. Louis, Missouri, Few People Know About This Missouri Nature Area With Some Of The Midwests Largest Glades, Missouris Worlds Of Fun Has A Brand New Roller Coaster Thats Opening In 2023, This Candy Store in Missouri Was Ripped Straight From The Pages Of A Fairytale, This Ride Through An Old Lead Mine In Missouri Will Take You Back In Time, 10 Places In Missouri That Will Make You Wish You Lived Underground, Most People in Missouri Have No Idea This Unique Tunnel Exists, 12 Of The Most Enchanting Man-Made Wonders In Missouri, 13 weirdest places you can possibly go in Missouri, road trip to Missouris best abandoned places. Before that, he was a reporter for WNYC's Only Humanpodcast. These are the 13 weirdest places you can possibly go in Missouri. Like, are you the most picky cheese-eater in your group of friends? The government has tended to stay away from buying cheese as a solution. I'm Karen Duffin. While the popular cheese has changed a lot since then, from access limited to royalty in 1625 to the confinement of "government cheddar" during World War II, the caves are constant . U.S. skyrocketed from 5.5 percent up to 14 percent, Im giving dairy farmers an equal break., boost cheese sales by more than 30 million pounds, 43 million gallons of milk down the drain, $20 million worth of cheese to cut the glut, 1.4 billion pounds of cheese in cold storage, currently has 7 million pounds of raw product, Sign up for our email, delivered twice a week. We are @planetmoney. Back in 2018, The New York Times did a profile on Gene Peters, chief executive of Rosnet, a restaurant software company out of Parkville, Missouri. [1] The complex contains almost 10.5 miles (16.9km) of illuminated, paved roads and several miles of railroad track. The Trump administration says today it will make an estimated $12 billion in government assistance available. Ashley Day. 7 Awe-Inspiring Drone Views That Will Show Off Kansas Like Never Before, Theres An Incredible Meteor Shower Happening This Summer And Kansas Has A Front Row Seat, The Underrated Natural Wonder Every Kansan Should See At Least Once, The Breathtaking Overlook In Kansas That Lets You See For Miles And Miles, 8 Roads With The Best Windshield Views In All Of Kansas, Theres A Geological Wonder That Youd Never Expect To Find In Kansas, The Beautiful Spot In Kansas Where You Can See Into Three Other States At Once, 9 Amazing Natural Wonders Hiding In Plain Sight In Kansas No Hiking Required, this cool hiking trail that has another cave. MALONE: So to raise the price of milk, the government basically opened up the world's largest cheese shop - you know, and powdered milk and butter, too. MALONE: Within five years, the government was storing two pounds of cheese for every single American citizen. [4]. So the clever folks at USDA said, what if we went down the supply chain one step NOVAKOVIC: And looked at dairy products that are storable? It dates back to a time when farmers were having a tough time in the 1920s and 30s and a growing feeling that the government should help., In the early 1900s, the growing availability of refrigerated transport allowed dairy farmers to sell their product on an unprecedented scale. As strange as this predicament might seem, the U.S. is far from the only country to artificially stabilize agricultural prices by stockpiling food products. It was ready to start buying cheese. During the 1980s, the U.S. government managed to offload its cheese stash. Expand All. Government cheese arrived at our home in enormous uncut yellow blocks wrapped in white nondescript cardboard. You took away my customers. Have you been inside? MALONE: The government is creating a price floor. This little-known cave area in Kansas is the perfect opportunity to explore something that many Kansan's might not have heard of before. And there are 17 flavor defects that could happen in cheddar cheese. (SOUNDBITE OF FREDERIC AUGER'S "SUNBURN"). To the cheese cave. So getting people to do it was always a challenge. The 43,000,000 square feet structure is owned by Americold and is primarily used for food production. MALONE: Many listeners may remember "Saturday Night Live's" Matt Foley, as played by Chris Farley, the world's worst motivational speaker. There is an argument that our country has to be able to produce its own food because if our farmers go out of business and we become reliant on other countries for food, then that is a kind of national security risk. MALONE: The idea was that if you give this food to people who suffer from food insecurity, then maybe it is going to go to somebody who wasn't going to buy cheese anyway so you're not hurting the market as much. is cottonseed oil safe for nut allergy You don't want that? The Rieger family went into banking and the West Bottoms distillery was paved over. Kenny Malone has the epic tale of government cheese. We also suggest picking up a digital hygrometer to measure cheese humidity, whether you're simply storing cheese in your Grotto or having fun with home cheesemaking. Heap the flour on your countertop and make a well in the center. MALONE: You were hired as someone to show up with a metal thing ASCHEBROCK: Not - no, no, no. Have you ever explored a cave in Kansas before? How to Make a Cheese Cave at Home - Cheese Grotto There's a lot of history buried beneath Kansas City streets, from Prohibition-era passageways and underground caves to the oldest bar in Missouri. MALONE: Today's episode was produced by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, Nick Fountain and Rhaina Cohen. The government was buying 1 in every 4 pounds of the country's cheddar cheese. Slice a package of sausages or dice some ham, or both, you do you. Atchison Storage Facility - Wikipedia The idea of "government cheese" is an enduring blip in the American psyche. A large portion is also owned by companies, who . Decades of propping up the dairy industryby buying up surplus milk and turning it into processed commodity cheesehad backfired, hard. The third cave is much smaller and contains a natural spring that often sends clean water running over the ground. For example, the United States Postal Service uses the space for its collectible stamp operations, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency leases spaces within for their Region-7 Training and Logistics Center. I mean, every warehouse in Wisconsin was full. DUFFIN: Our supervising producer is Alex Goldmark, and our editor is Bryant Urstadt. DUFFIN: OK. USDA Keeps 1.4 Billion Pounds of Cheese in Missouri Caves - Newser Accuracy and availability may vary. Thanks for listening. A teeny bit was allowed but not too much. This story was first published in KCUR's Creative Adventure newsletter. BOB ASCHEBROCK: Yes. Caves are usually found underground. Pour the dissolved yeast into the well and add enough warm water to make a soft dough. OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. Oh, yeah. As recently as August of 2020, the Department of Agriculture announced the Cheese Purchase Program. DUFFIN: By the early 1980s, the dairy support program was costing taxpayers around $2 billion a year. And the resulting demand just pushes the price of milk up. But that does not mean the government had fixed the problem. Start with this beginner's guide to the neighborhood, Local public health officials fear a Kansas bill would undercut work to contain diseases, A federal lawsuit against Missouri's 'dysfunctional' SNAP call center has gotten bigger, Escape your house with this list of outdoor adventures around Kansas City, Kick off your summer with outdoor music and movies in Kansas City, Kansas City is home to a lot of offbeat and fun museums. USCIS opened its National Records Center in a cave in Lee's Summit, Missouri, in 1999. No, it isn't money but actually cheese, 1.4 billion pounds of it to be exact, stored in a cave in Missouri. According to The Washington Post, the U.S. has the largest domestic reserve of cheese of all varieties, including cheddar, Swiss and American . UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A state official estimated 300,000 people will get a taste of today's cheese. Besides those already mentioned, other businesses include Cerner, NextPage, Hallmark Cards, Hantover, Clore Automotive, and Knapheide. I dont even need a coat in the winter.. What would the government do if you drove this into downtown Washington and said, here you go? By 1984, the U.S. storage facilities contained 1.2 billion pounds, or roughly five pounds of cheese for every American. MALONE: And I'm Kenny Malone. But their purpose has shifted over the years. Starting in 1995, a government nonprofit has promoted a pro-dairy policy - in direct opposition to the Department of Agriculture and government nutritionists. The United States Postal Service and the United States Environmental Protection Agency lease spaces within SubTropolis, the United States Postal Service for its collectible stamp operations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their Region-7 Training and Logistics Center. NOVAKOVIC: So you can imagine, you know, you don't just kind of roll down one of these barrels down Seventh Avenue in New York City and say, anybody want some cheese? I'm Karen Duffin. The 55,000,000-square-foot, 1,100-acre underground storage facility is believed to be the world's largest site of its kind. https://bit.ly/2CdCooV Theorists, did you know the government is hiding caves full of cheese from us? NOVAKOVIC: So it's fundamental economics. Even the beverage distributors, they had cheese in the storage. And as the historic structure theyd purchased was being repaired, Andy Rieger and crew found an eight-foot high, 400-foot-long tunnel beneath it. In response to this dairy shortage and 30% inflation . sign up to receive stories like this in your inbox every Tuesday. Blackwell Motors showcases a variety of fiberglass animals, and people come from all around just to see them. NOVAKOVIC: You've got two levers you can pull on. They are open spaces of various sizes and shapes that often intersect with each another or with different generated structures, creating vast cave systems. And he started floating this idea. These limestone caverns arent the only channels running under the city. Today, the National Archives has four underground facilities. warehouses in Germany, Belgium, and France. JAY-Z: (Rapping) After that government cheese, we eatin' steak. MALONE: The theory was that if you give cheese away to people who can't afford it, then you're not stealing business from real cheese sellers. Dug into the Bethany Falls limestone mine, SubTropolis is, in places, 160 feet (49m) beneath the surface. NOVAKOVIC: It was pretty hard to predict that it would get as bad as it got. 2023 Atlas Obscura. MALONE: This is one of those slow-moving train wrecks that you can see coming from a mile away. The bar stools are original and survived some of the flooding. Are there any fascinating abandoned buildings in Missouri? Thank you! This will be about 3/4 to a cup of water. It was a big enough number that it sounded like one of these campaign promises that you really didn't expect they would actually fulfill. Probably the cheapest and most practical thing would be to dump it in the ocean., Instead, they decided to jettison 30 million pounds of it into welfare programs and school lunches through the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program. And he says the government could not just release a flood of surplus cheese onto the market because it would crush cheese producers. MALONE: Bob Aschebrock spent 30 years as a USDA cheese inspector. DUFFIN: Or you can try to get your surplus goods to people who were not going to buy it anyway. The Best List of Caves in Kansas - World of Caves And not all of it was aging well. MALONE: The government is creating a price floor. The Missouri Penitentiary in Jefferson City is rumored to be riddled with spirits. Park University in the Kansas City suburb of Parkville has dozens of classrooms and offices in the caves and rents out other underground space to businesses. Posted on June 8, 2022 ; in pete davidson first snl episode; by MALONE: Even if that bite just looks like some delicious cheese? What is the Government Doing With Billions of Pounds of Cheese? Born and raised Kansan, Clarisa has lived in both tiny towns and cities during their time here in the Sunflower State. With these historical details in mind, whos to say there isnt a tunnel beneath 9th & State that was used to ferry booze between Missouri and Kansas? DIRECTIONS: Dissolve the yeast in the hot water and let stand until foamy, about ten minutes. You'll receive your first newsletter soon! Big Government Cheese | Business in American History - Baylor University Secretive Experiences Sample spirits made by S.D. ASCHEBROCK: And that's what you grade. Every weekday we compile our most wondrous stories and deliver them straight to you. The government is buying $20 million in surplus cheese - CNNMoney It certainly was on the edge of that. MALONE: You were hired as someone to show up with a metal ASCHEBROCK: Where you do quality checks on it. Love Kansas? Well, its called SubTropolis, is owned by Hunt Midwest yes, the same Hunt family that owns the Kansas City Chiefs and is wide enough to hold 42 Arrowhead Stadiums. Theres even a train track winding through the colossal complex, and many, many exit signs.