What is the Government Doing With Billions of Pounds of Cheese? The Heim family owned property all over Kansas City at the turn of the century, including breweries called Rochester and Imperial, as well as the one in East Bottoms. USCIS opened its National Records Center in a cave in Lee's Summit, Missouri, in 1999. In a blog post by writer Libbie Bond, the Deans are described as among the first in America to visualize abandoned mines as commercial real estate.. Thank you! Get more stories delivered right to your email. Yes, that is a lot of cheese. 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And though the world may not imagine Kansas City as big in the underground scene our ever-expanding streetcar system still operates where the sun shines the limestone around these parts was shaped by glaciers and rivers and makes for good mining. That number, though, pales in. Anyway, the government had its plan in place. That is, until last month. Oh, boy - here we go. MALONE: So a campaign promise - that's what we call those. Decades of propping up the dairy industryby buying up surplus. Currently 5,000,000 square feet is occupied and 10,000,000 square feet are "improved.". There were 40-pound blocks and 500-pound barrels. Hunt's extensive business dealings in Clay County contributed to the Chiefs having their NFL Training Camp at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri until 1991. But thats not all that was uncovered. This was generally the approach that we would use to support other kinds of farm industries. Let us know. Andy Novakovic spent his summers as a kid working on his grandparents' dairy farm in Wisconsin. Yes, the Government Really Does Stash Billions of Pounds of Cheese in NOVAKOVIC: But 99.9 percent wouldn't have the foggiest clue how to get started. MALONE: Releasing a tsunami of surplus cheddar the wrong way would push the price of cheese and milk way down. But every instinct I had said, oh, this - I'm not so sure this is going to work out so well. The government has tended to stay away from buying cheese as a solution. But this is what gave us, you know, the got milk and the milk mustache and all those kind of iconic programs that we remember. In fact, if you see my shape, you would know that I eat enough to keep the tank full. SubTropolis is used by around 50 businesses and organizations, for a variety of purposes. Each week, KCUR's Adventure! UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: The retail price of milk is going up more than 6 cents a gallon - soon. Over the years, the industry has found all sorts of ways to get rid of its excess supplysome more insidious than others. We use to plug through that bunghole to get our sample. Youll love exploring this amazing geological wonder. MALONE: This must be a common confusion in the industry. Karen's doing the dance. Are there any fascinating abandoned buildings in Missouri? CALLAHAN: So you'd be - it's 17 feet, 16 feet. MALONE: Many listeners may remember "Saturday Night Live's" Matt Foley, as played by Chris Farley, the world's worst motivational speaker. They also house a massive frozen-food storage complex, a paintball business, and a US Postal Service facility that stores and distributes new stamps. Food Caves in Missouri SubTropolis, Kansas City. ASCHEBROCK: Well, I think cheese eating is better than dating sometimes. 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. Kansas City even has special ordinances that govern the use of underground space, including how the roofs must be supported, and about 3,000 to 4,000 people work full-time in the cave system, Hasan said. The Cheese Cave announces it's closing | News - Southernminn Love Kansas? NOVAKOVIC: Butter was one, nonfat dry milk and cheese - and in particular, cheddar-type cheese. But here is why government cheese has become a kind of parable of how government intervention in markets can have this, like, butterfly effect. Melt Two tbps of butter into a skillet, then add the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Sign up for KCUR's Creative Adventure Email. Offer subject to change without notice. And they're like, we need more cheese graders. The U.S. has too much cheese 1.4 billion pounds of it to be exact. Basically the dairy industry is looking to expand its market and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is looking to expand the agricultural economy and they become very intertwined., It helped that the burgeoning field of nutrition science promoted dairy products as essential for both adults and children. Sprawling beneath 31st Street (and beyond) for more than two million square feet, the nations first subterranean business park was blasted into existence by prolific businessmen Lester Dean Sr. and Lester Dean Jr. We say blasted because in 1973, the duo expanded an existing mine on the property using what else? I started in 1967 with the USDA, and I was hired as a cheese grader. DUFFIN: But maybe government cheese's most surreal moment came on a television show where Martha Stewart cooks stuff with Snoop Dog. Specifically, the federal government had 560 million pounds of cheese, most of it stored in vast subterranean storage facilities. All our area around here - everybody had cheese. This one-of-a-kind display showcases a wide variety of hair art, historic hair pieces, and more. To the cheese cave. MALONE: By this point, Jimmy Carter was out of office. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: The great cheese giveaway began today in California. DUFFIN: So much cheese that Bob starts having to spend more and more time on the road because he has to actually go to the cheese to grade it. MALONE: Even if that bite just looks like some delicious cheese. India and Bhutan's yak herders face steep challenges. 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. MALONE: But this is America. The Missouri River town is known for its charming main drag and castle-like college, Park University. Production has increased 3% in the past year, and 29% in the last decade. DUFFIN: OK. These limestone caverns arent the only channels running under the city. Syed E. Hasan, a geosciences professor emeritus at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, said the "very pure" limestone was ideal for cement production to shore up the city's rapid expansion at that time. The guaranteed milk price, which had been going up automatically every six months, was eventually frozen. I'm Karen Duffin. Gastro Obscura covers the worlds most wondrous food and drink. By Emily Baron Cadloff Global Research, May 30, 2022 Modern Farmer 25 May 2022 Region: USA Theme: Global Economy Even the beverage distributors, they had cheese in the storage. The easier solution - maybe - the government could just start buying a ton of milk themselves. DUFFIN: Government cheese starts to show up in all kinds of popular culture. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MARTHA AND SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY"). Big Government Cheese | Business in American History - Baylor University Pour the dissolved yeast into the well and add enough warm water to make a soft dough. NOVAKOVIC: To persuade farmers to produce less. Their records were locked in limestone caves during the pandemic - CNN MALONE: Right. JUNOT DIAZ: Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator. THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE MAY 21, 2022, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURAS FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. NOVAKOVIC: Well, I think there's two basic lessons. Want more adventures like this? While the government-owned cheese hoards of the 1970s and 80s are largely a thing of the past, the U.S. has still never really figured out what to do with its excess dairy. government cheese caves kansas city - WPC MALONE: Novakovic says the government could have destroyed the cheese. What are the most unusual places in Missouri? DUFFIN: Hello. It's also mostly water, so you've got to haul it around in those, like, gas tankers. There was an incredible press conference where Agriculture Secretary John Block went before reporters and held up a giant hunk of cheese like it was a national emergency. You could destroy the surplus, but that looks pretty bad. Back in the 1880s, after a year of toiling through the bluffs dividing Downtown from West Bottoms, rapid transit pioneer Robert Gillham and a team of workers managed to push the last underground bricks into place. MALONE: You were hired as someone to show up with a metal thing ASCHEBROCK: Not - no, no, no. 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. You'll receive your first newsletter soon! DUFFIN: (Laughter) That's right. The Trump administration says today it will make an estimated $12 billion in government assistance available. Start with this beginner's guide to the neighborhood, Kansas City's new airport terminal carries on the legacy of a 10-year-old who fought for inclusivity, 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. MALONE: Yes. MALONE: Government cheese became a symbol of a crappy government handout. 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. 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. MALONE: And you can taste all of those things in a piece of cheese? In addition to serving as a records center, Lenexa has two archival cold storage rooms. 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. (SOUNDBITE OF DROP ELECTRIC SONG, "WAKING UP TO THE FIRE"). Posted on June 16, 2022 by June 16, 2022 by MALONE: So if you wanted to sell cheese to the government, Bob would show up with this, like, hollow rod called a cheese trier. KENNY MALONE, BYLINE: The year was 1977. But the government then actually has to figure out a way to step into this market and make it happen. Then, in the 1970s, everything started to go haywire. Through our sister company, Cold Zone, we are able to store refrigerated food, such as cheese for our tenants. A grader, where you do quality checks on it. They are open spaces of various sizes and shapes that often intersect with each another or with different generated structures, creating vast cave systems. SubTropolis - Wikipedia One of the Heim brothers helped build a theme park there called Electric Park, which in turn gave inspiration to J. Rieger & Co.s outdoor area of the same name. The Campground recently unearthed pieces of the distillerys tile floor as they were renovating their own bar. When Hamilton and partner Sean Smith purchased the property in 2021, they also found a locked safe and penny tile beneath green carpeting. President Jimmy Carter wanted to help the dairy farmers. In 1949, the Agricultural Act allowed a government agency to buy up dairy products to stabilize prices. The 55,000,000-square-foot, 1,100-acre underground storage facility is believed to be the world's largest site of its kind. SNOOP DOGG: (Rapping) And we ghetto like a [expletive] hot buttered toast in the mornin' with some government cheese. MALONE: And I'm Kenny Malone. 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. Although there are around 1.4 billion pounds of excess cheese in the form of large wheels kept in cold storage limestone caves hundreds of feet below the ground outside of Springfield, Missouri just off Interstate 435, it is not all controlled by the government (only about 300 million pounds). And you can drive your car right into it. Kansas City Underground | Visit KC NOVAKOVIC: It was pretty hard to predict that it would get as bad as it got. Comments on: Yes, the Government Really Does Stash Billions of Pounds Kansas City, MO 64112. DUFFIN: More graders grading more cheese that the government then buys. The massive. China props up pork prices by buying surplus for its frozen pork reserve. Caves . Now heres a story that comes full circle. MALONE: Bob Aschebrock spent 30 years as a USDA cheese inspector. And there are 17 flavor defects that could happen in cheddar cheese. MALONE: I'm Kenny Malone. Government . Kansas City's Underground Caves - Business Insider I mean, there was all kinds of tricks that you - that we had to be looking for. Have you ever explored a cave in Kansas before? Atchison Storage Facility - Wikipedia 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. This area is also a great place to go hiking, camping, and fishing. To learn more about the best caves in Missouri, read our article here. Government cheese, as the orange blocks of commodity cheese came to be called, wasnt exactly popular with all of its recipients. The block earned its name due to the number of saloons found between the Kansas-Missouri state line and Genessee Street at the turn of the century. But this was not putting even a dent in the surplus. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider According to the Center for Land Use Interpretation, the space was once also a limestone mine. Yet part of this cheese mountain represents an enduring surplusa very literal representation of the dairy industrys mismatch with the realties of the market. YOU CAN, Argentina's El Impenetrable Opens Up New Options For Its People, How Laos Got Its First Buffalo Dairy Farm, How the Capones Strong-Armed Their Way Into the Dairy Business, The French Art of Cheese-Label Collecting, The Last Cheesemakers of the Eastern Himalayas, Show & Tell: Inside a House of Hot Sauce With Vic Clinco, The Secret to China's Bounciest Meatballs. ASCHEBROCK: But then we had the issue of storing the stuff. MALONE: Bob Aschebrock was one of the government's cheese graders. The bunker complex was a secure U.S. government storage facility from World War II until 2013. As a Louisiana foodie, all I know about the topic is that if anyone got t heir hands on government cheese, it was a celebration, because it was so tasty.!! SubTropolis is a ginormous man-made cave in the bluffs above the Missouri River in Kansas City. BOB ASCHEBROCK: Yes. About 3.2 acres of available space are added each year as active mining continues. It was ready to start buying cheese. NOVAKOVIC: The federal government wouldn't have the foggiest idea what to do with tanker loads of milk. CHRIS FARLEY: (As Matt Foley) I'm here to tell you that you're going to end up eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van down by the river. MALONE: You were hired as someone to show up with a metal ASCHEBROCK: Where you do quality checks on it. Known for its hiking trails (with Missouri River views), wineries and the McCormick distillery, Weston is also home to OMalleys, the oldest bar in Missouri. But as Kansas Citians began to rely more on buses and their own vehicles in the 1940s and 1950s, the 8th Street tunnel ceased operations. So just wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling CALLAHAN: Floor-to-ceiling - and then as you kept filling it, you just worked your way right back out. 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. 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. MALONE: Again, economist Andy Novakovic. That doesn't look great. DUFFIN: But that does not work for milk because milk starts going bad the minute it comes out of the cow. Today, the government still buys and stores cheese for food assistance programs; however, only about 300 . Youll have to climb down to get to it, led mysteriously by a sequence of ramps and labyrinthine walkways. You can do something to make demand greater, or you can do something to make supply less. You don't want that? The former limestone mines house about 400 businesses, many of which specialize in storage or warehousing because they are protected from extreme weather and can boast stable, year-round temperatures and humidity. ANDY NOVAKOVIC: Oh, yeah. NOVAKOVIC: Yeah. MALONE: The government cheese caves started to empty out. The government would buy as much milk as it took to move that price. Visitors to the underworld will even find a whiskey distillery within the mined area, which stretches for more than 1 million square feet. Westons downtown district was established in 1837, so theres a lot of history here. At one point, the government was storing two pounds of cheese for every single American citizen. DUFFIN: Yes, this is a real job. ASCHEBROCK: Will eat any cheese. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. The four are Onondaga Cave and Cathedral Cave at Onondaga Cave State Park, Fisher Cave at Meramec State Park , and Ozark Caverns at Lake of the Ozarks State Park. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. And before that, he was a reporter for his friend T.C. Many tenants at . ASCHEBROCK: You. No purchase necessary. MALONE: There will be a cave in Kansas City, a van down by the river and a touching exchange between Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg. Like so many things in American public policy, this traces to the New Deal, but actually goes even a little bit before that, says Andrew Novakovi, a professor of Agricultural Economics at Cornell University. "If they haven't been used, no one knows what state of deterioration they are in," Hasan said. These are the 13 weirdest places you can possibly go in Missouri. Word is the tunnel sustained water damage, so time will tell if it sees the light of day. DUFFIN: This is why there is also a community of people who are still obsessed with government cheese - Internet chat boards trying to find something comparable, restaurants claiming they have a recipe for it. warehouses in Germany, Belgium, and France. And he started floating this idea. But there is a chance that the government may be in the business of government cheese again. Today on the show, the story of what happened when the president of the United States decided he was going to help America's farmers by buying milk, lots of milk. Anyway, whats weird is that Peters talks about working beneath Park University in a limestone cave. Food Theory: Why is the Government Hiding 1.4 BILLION Pounds of Cheese? Accuracy and availability may vary. When the Trump administration decided to pay subsidies to farmers hurt by trade, it reminded NPR's Planet Money podcast team about the time another president tried to help farmers. 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. I am currently about 35 feet underground in an old converted limestone mine that is the size of 120 football fields. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Jimmy Carter's campaign promise to help farmers in 1976 not only gave us government cheese but also milk mustaches. You wont be bored on this one-of-a-kind road trip! Since 1916, when James Lewis Kraft patented American cheese, the U.S. had the technology to create a cheese product that could last for years. Very, very expensive cheese. Government buys more cheese. So getting people to do it was always a challenge. This is, you know, important to me. Posted on June 8, 2022 ; in pete davidson first snl episode; by But what Andy Novakovic knew is that it's one thing to provide stability, it is another to step into the market in a big way at maybe the wrong time because playing with price controls is playing with fire. An eye-opening journey through the history, culture, and places of the culinary world. What would the government do if you drove this into downtown Washington and said, here you go? That was pretty good. MALONE: The government asked economists, including Andy Novakovic, to figure out how it could get out of the cheese buying business without devastating the farmers they were trying to help in the first place. This is Dan Callahan. ASCHEBROCK: But then we had the issue with storing the stuff. Nevertheless, dairy surpluses still very much exist. If youve been in the cheeky, sophisticated Campground bar, youve set foot where the original J. Rieger & Co. building stood. And he tells me, these were never government-owned caves. MALONE: And so our country has a tradition of programs to help farmers. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. So the thing that the government was concerned about is what's called commercial displacement. Warehouses Bulge With Surplus Cheese, Butter and Dried Milk DUFFIN: Like, hey, people of America, wouldn't you like to drink more milk? The reason why the dairy industry gets such preferential treatment is its status as this uncontested food in the diet, Wiley says. MALONE: So this leaves a couple of options. And the United States Postal Service's Philatelic Sales Divison, the national distribution center for . The government is buying $20 million in surplus cheese - CNNMoney Currently, more than 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m2) is occupied and 8,000,000 square feet (740,000 m2) are available for future expansion. He spent 30 years testing and tasting cheese for the United States government. Though its more a part of Midtown than Downtown, the space once known as Deans Downtown Underground is definitely down there. Share your experiences in the comment section below. Starting around the 1950s, investors started finding ways to use the abandoned underground space. SubTropolis | Snopes.com Demand for dairy in the U.S. has plummeted 42 percent since 1975, but that hasnt stopped American farmers from producing more and more of it. Caves are usually found underground. Feast Your Eyes: Kraft's Massive Underground Cheese Cave Photo - GOOD MALONE: This footage is amazing - just massive crowds of people being handed bricks of cheese. Ever wonder what its like to work underground? You don't do that, huh? This little-known cave area in Kansas is the perfect opportunity to explore something that many Kansan's might not have heard of before. KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) A mother is in custody after her two children were found barefoot, dirty, and living in a wooden shipping crate in an underground cave part of a massive subterranean network carved out beneath Kansas City. The Dairy Farmers of America, which has been using the facility, known as the Springfield Underground, for more than 30 years, currently has 7 million pounds of raw product.Some of this is normal inventory storage or cheese being aged. In 1887, J. Rieger & Co. distillers of top-notch whiskey, vodka and gin put down roots in the Livestock Exchange district of West Bottoms. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. History Springfield Underground Imagine watching lines of people wait around to be handed a giant block of moldy, bright orange cheese. But their purpose has shifted over the years. MALONE: Right - very, very expensive cheese. Embark on a wonderful cave tour and learn all about its history. You may even encounter some paranormal activity while youre exploring. Lets just call it tunnel vision. Well, we got some real crafty guys that started putting 40-pound blocks of special cheese right under the bunghole. Like, this is the original bridge to nowhere. 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.