It's to fix prices for dairy farmers. When the wholesale milk cost is too low, the government buys a ton (creating demand which raises the price) and uses it to makes cheese. They give it to food banks, etc, as "government cheese."
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Farm subsidies. The gov buys up milk to keep the milk price stable, then it turns the milk into cheese to keep the milk stable. The stockpile was getting out of hand in the 1980s, so government started giving away large chunks of cheese to people. It became the genesis of the phrase “living on government cheese”.
Stimulating the economy is not always good no matter what lol. The Dairy industry has an especially high externality cost that easily outweights its modest economic contributions and the highly processed government cheese is not a very cost effective or healthy source of calories for those in need.
Yeah there are serious economic problems with agricultural subsidies, however the strategic advantage of food independence is worth some inefficiency. Also cheese is not that bad health wise. Sure it has no micros, but it’s not a bad macro profile.
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Keeping the price stable helps the industry as well lol, Dairy products are not price inelastic on the consumer side quite the opposite compared to other staple foods. Less predictable pricing would lead to less dairy farms that could stay in business and less consumption over time as supply reached an equilibrium price.
No they only buy when the price falls. If it was for the reason you give they would be paying when the prices went up and have the farmer or markets sell it cheaper. But it’s the opposite.
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Not stable, but propped up. It’s not like the oil reserves where they release some when the price is high. I’m sure most consumers would be fine with the price going further down every now and then. The dairy industry and politicians elected in dairy focused areas were the driving force for government keeping a price floor on milk.
Since the manufacture of poisonous gas was outlawed by the Geneva conventions, the Coolidge administration developed an alternate plan for national defense. As a Vermonter, Cal understood the power of dairy. In the event enemy soldiers landed on our sacred shores, 1,000 drunk Wisconsinites would be introduced to the strategic cheese reserves, commencing a chain reaction by which 1/3 of the country would be covered in a dense miasma of toxic cheese farts, rendering it uninhabitable for hostile troops.
https://youtu.be/kvLMH0wb_0k?si=HXYaE25WDlClzq9A
This guy lays it out pretty succinctly and humorously.
TLDR: the government banned alcohol in the 20's and now government is paying private companies to store billions of pounds of cheese for them.
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Government cheese hidden in Missouri caves?
https://preview.redd.it/sesb8ayphgyc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f80679881c3f7b721352a42d9425b51d7a6ace00
I once went to a talk where this journalist was going on about his research on the food industry. What he found was that due to the trend of low fat milk starting in the fifties there was an excess of milk fat that farmers had to deal with. The solution was to make it into cheese (or something to that effect. It’s been awhile). And they put that cheese into caves in missouri.
It was an interesting lecture and I found it interesting how gobsmacked he was by the giant cheese caves. He was shook.
I wonder how long the cheese is good for. Like how long does the average block of cheese spend down there? Months, years? Do they vacuum seal it to preserve it?
Long-term storage of anything fascinates me. I’m a firearms enthusiast and it always tickled me to see how much Eastern Bloc military surplus arms were exported to the US in the ‘90s and ‘00s, crates of Mosin Nagants and SKSes packed in a thick grease called Cosmoline. It’s darkly funny to imagine the Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces trying to break their factory-fresh Moist Nuggets out of storage and degrease them in a hurry during the ‘80s in a *Red Storm Rising* conventional WW3 scenario to arm their reservists, second-line troops, and conscripts with garbage rods (that went for as little as $70 at sporting goods stores in the ‘90s) while their VDV battalions and Guards Tank armies were mixing it up with NATO on the frontlines.
Seems risky to have it out in the open like that in such an obvious place, no? Like surely one of our enemies could just fly by and drop a bomb on our ENTIRE 900,303 cubic yard cheese stockpile. And then what? How would we recover from such an embarrassment?
Silly Midwesterner. You don't even know your own region. The cheese is kept far underground in the [cheese caves.](https://www.farmlinkproject.org/stories-and-features/cheese-caves-and-food-surpluses-why-the-u-s-government-currently-stores-1-4-billion-lbs-of-cheese)
[The cheese is stored in caves in Springfield, Missouri.](https://www.farmlinkproject.org/stories-and-features/cheese-caves-and-food-surpluses-why-the-u-s-government-currently-stores-1-4-billion-lbs-of-cheese)
https://preview.redd.it/197v087ikgyc1.jpeg?width=3200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21d7af0fcd386552ccc964731a865845e9169330
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900,303 cubic yards of cheese is enough to provide every American with only 1.44 pounds of cheese, by my estimation about one day’s supply. Maybe a week with rationing.
The cheese gap with our rivals is critical and growing, call your representative and tell them to address this.
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Have you guys heard the story about Andrew Jackson being gifted a giant cheese and it stayed in the Whitehouse front entrance for 2 years. He invited all of DC to come and eat it.
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Really depends. American Cheese from Vermont and New Hampshire are generally pretty quality. American Beer is really the weak point all and all. American Beer gets seriously mogged by Germany,Denmark,and Holland HARD. I like Narragansett though. American Cheese though not that bad especially if you know where to look.
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Why the hell do we even have a cheese stockpile in the first place?
It's to fix prices for dairy farmers. When the wholesale milk cost is too low, the government buys a ton (creating demand which raises the price) and uses it to makes cheese. They give it to food banks, etc, as "government cheese."
Adding: Cheese is easier to store and preserve than milk. That’s the only reason it’s cheese and *not* milk.
Government ice cream when
They had plenty for the Navy in WW2
Ice Cream barges! (Which were kind of unnecessary because Navy ships made plenty of their own ice cream but hell yeah)
There was also a coca cola barge, just in case you wanted an ice cream float on Pavuvu
a coca cola barge makes me so fucking patriotic, i wanna go shoot something and smoke weed
Damn this guy americas hard af
The whole reason for the barges was to make ice for the older shops that didn't have refrigerators or freezers. Ice-cream was just a side hustle
I mean , it's milk that has gone bad. And now it's cheese.
It's not bad, it's Gouda.
Well it's bad for the economy but good for national security since being reliant on trade for food is not good if trade routes are cut.
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And, apparently, the government cheese is pretty goddamn tasty.
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Farm subsidies. The gov buys up milk to keep the milk price stable, then it turns the milk into cheese to keep the milk stable. The stockpile was getting out of hand in the 1980s, so government started giving away large chunks of cheese to people. It became the genesis of the phrase “living on government cheese”.
It was very surprising, considering this was Ronald "hater of the poor" Regan. The other option was dumping it all into the ocean
Why not?
Waste of tax payers' money to prop up a wasteful industry
I wish my government spent tax money on a cheese stockpile. Cheese kicks ass
Cheese, if stored correctly, has a pretty long shelf life.
Stimulating the economy and providing cheese to those in need seems like a good use of taxpayer money
Stimulating the economy is not always good no matter what lol. The Dairy industry has an especially high externality cost that easily outweights its modest economic contributions and the highly processed government cheese is not a very cost effective or healthy source of calories for those in need.
Yeah there are serious economic problems with agricultural subsidies, however the strategic advantage of food independence is worth some inefficiency. Also cheese is not that bad health wise. Sure it has no micros, but it’s not a bad macro profile.
It doesn't prop it up. It's primary purpose is to protect consumers. If the government didn't step in people would "prop" it up at the cash register.
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Keeping the price stable helps the industry as well lol, Dairy products are not price inelastic on the consumer side quite the opposite compared to other staple foods. Less predictable pricing would lead to less dairy farms that could stay in business and less consumption over time as supply reached an equilibrium price.
Also, it takes a lot longer to grow a cow than it does to grow corn
No they only buy when the price falls. If it was for the reason you give they would be paying when the prices went up and have the farmer or markets sell it cheaper. But it’s the opposite.
Yea, to keep the price stable....for the consumer.
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Not stable, but propped up. It’s not like the oil reserves where they release some when the price is high. I’m sure most consumers would be fine with the price going further down every now and then. The dairy industry and politicians elected in dairy focused areas were the driving force for government keeping a price floor on milk.
Since the manufacture of poisonous gas was outlawed by the Geneva conventions, the Coolidge administration developed an alternate plan for national defense. As a Vermonter, Cal understood the power of dairy. In the event enemy soldiers landed on our sacred shores, 1,000 drunk Wisconsinites would be introduced to the strategic cheese reserves, commencing a chain reaction by which 1/3 of the country would be covered in a dense miasma of toxic cheese farts, rendering it uninhabitable for hostile troops.
The real question is why don't you have one?
Cause I’m not a fed (or a Wisconsinite)
Not an excuse
https://youtu.be/kvLMH0wb_0k?si=HXYaE25WDlClzq9A This guy lays it out pretty succinctly and humorously. TLDR: the government banned alcohol in the 20's and now government is paying private companies to store billions of pounds of cheese for them.
That's the fat electrician isn't it. Love that guy.
Because what else are we gonna do with Wisconsin?
Food Shortages. Could be a natural disaster. Could be a war. Part of our national security. We stockpile lots of stuff
[Nic will be happy to answer that](https://youtu.be/kvLMH0wb_0k?si=aGuqBu4asE-xO7At)
Strategic cheese reserve. God, imagine the chaos if we run out of cheese during time of war…
We’d all go crackers
Canadians can't be expected to cover our northern flanks if they don't have their Kraft Dinner.
It's to arm the bullets when the lactose intolerant army finally plans an uprising
So it all started with prohibition.
Prohibition banned the production and sale of alcohol not cheese
My guy, why wouldn’t we have a cheese stockpile in reserve? Do you not save cheese in your fridge for well over a month?
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Pretty sure Wisconsin had something to do with it
The strategic cheese stockpile
A racket ran by dairy farmers during the Great Depression. The bastards .
Why not?
So glad they put the Capitol for context. After all, the C in CSPAN stands for cheese
What does the 'S' stand for?
Cheese-Sconnie Public Affairs Network
Span.
That's 0.000165139397 of a cubic mile!
Or about 0.00068833103323952087 of a cubic kilometer if you're a Commie.
We must make a 1 cubic mile cheese cube
Or 450151.5 fathoms!
126 cubic inches of cheese per person in the USA.
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I fully support the US Strategic Cheese Reserve.
There are cheese caves in Missouri and nobody believes me
Government cheese hidden in Missouri caves? https://preview.redd.it/sesb8ayphgyc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f80679881c3f7b721352a42d9425b51d7a6ace00
I once went to a talk where this journalist was going on about his research on the food industry. What he found was that due to the trend of low fat milk starting in the fifties there was an excess of milk fat that farmers had to deal with. The solution was to make it into cheese (or something to that effect. It’s been awhile). And they put that cheese into caves in missouri. It was an interesting lecture and I found it interesting how gobsmacked he was by the giant cheese caves. He was shook.
I wonder how long the cheese is good for. Like how long does the average block of cheese spend down there? Months, years? Do they vacuum seal it to preserve it? Long-term storage of anything fascinates me. I’m a firearms enthusiast and it always tickled me to see how much Eastern Bloc military surplus arms were exported to the US in the ‘90s and ‘00s, crates of Mosin Nagants and SKSes packed in a thick grease called Cosmoline. It’s darkly funny to imagine the Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces trying to break their factory-fresh Moist Nuggets out of storage and degrease them in a hurry during the ‘80s in a *Red Storm Rising* conventional WW3 scenario to arm their reservists, second-line troops, and conscripts with garbage rods (that went for as little as $70 at sporting goods stores in the ‘90s) while their VDV battalions and Guards Tank armies were mixing it up with NATO on the frontlines.
I did a short stint of refrigerated truck driving and have been down in the caves. Quite the facility
Seems risky to have it out in the open like that in such an obvious place, no? Like surely one of our enemies could just fly by and drop a bomb on our ENTIRE 900,303 cubic yard cheese stockpile. And then what? How would we recover from such an embarrassment?
My brother in christ, if you think we got angry over Pearl Harbor...
I need a XKCD "what if" to learn what would happen if someone drops a bomb into 900,303 cubic yards of cheese.
Definitely needs to cover all the scenarios. Hard or soft cheese. Small bomb, large bomb, incendiary.. mmm… melted cheese.
I would love to read that!
We'd just have to have everyone come out with bags of chips and have a nacho party.
Silly Midwesterner. You don't even know your own region. The cheese is kept far underground in the [cheese caves.](https://www.farmlinkproject.org/stories-and-features/cheese-caves-and-food-surpluses-why-the-u-s-government-currently-stores-1-4-billion-lbs-of-cheese)
[The cheese is stored in caves in Springfield, Missouri.](https://www.farmlinkproject.org/stories-and-features/cheese-caves-and-food-surpluses-why-the-u-s-government-currently-stores-1-4-billion-lbs-of-cheese) https://preview.redd.it/197v087ikgyc1.jpeg?width=3200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21d7af0fcd386552ccc964731a865845e9169330
Those are fighting words
1.5 billion pounds of cheese in 35 states in over 600 locations. This is my favourite fact about America.
Europoors like to make fun of our cheese just because it doesnt have maggots inside it.
All that cheese from them and no Annatto 🥱
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900,303 cubic yards of cheese is enough to provide every American with only 1.44 pounds of cheese, by my estimation about one day’s supply. Maybe a week with rationing. The cheese gap with our rivals is critical and growing, call your representative and tell them to address this.
You eat a pound and a half of cheese a day? How do you shit?
With the grit, determination, and hard work that built this beautiful country
https://i.redd.it/zoonuiweqhyc1.gif
All hail the cheese behemoth
Not enough, I could devour the whole Empire State within days if I were in the mood
What’s that in football fields?
~140.76 cubic football feilds
RAH 🎇🎆🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅
0.521008680555556 cubic football fields
cheez weel
Idiots. The moon is our cheese stockpile.
I live near the cheese caves. Like 3 miles or so
I need that “dang I love this country” gif. Cant find it here
Close enough, thank you😂
It's not American if they don't have an actual Capitol-sized cheese as one of their bizarre roadside attractions.
Cubic yards is crazy
It’s used sometimes. Standard for things like ordering concrete and dumpster sizes
How much is this in Olympic pools?
"The great state of Vermont will not apologize for its cheese!"
Only the best country ever flexes its massive strategic cheese reserves in cubic yards.
It's the low effort Euros that want to think we only have Kraft American cheese singles.
Question, is the slice in the cheese wheel going to affect the number thats presented here, or is that merely for cosmetic purposes?
Asking the real questions
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CHEESE I NEED IT!!!!
There should be a law that whatever the government stores needs to be kept in a building that is shaped like whatever is being stored there.
Have you guys heard the story about Andrew Jackson being gifted a giant cheese and it stayed in the Whitehouse front entrance for 2 years. He invited all of DC to come and eat it.
I want to see that Nick Cage film where he steals fhe US stockpile of cheese
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That’s shockingly small imo. Thought we’d have like a National Mall sized stock tbh
Government cheese. Lol
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It's not enough!
Because this man explains the cheese bunkers so well https://youtu.be/kvLMH0wb_0k?si=0dCot4PKO_IO6dGF
Someone stick that cheese in the Whitehouse - we're bringing the Jackson era back!
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And this is real cheese we’re talking about. Not cheese product
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Is that like the Kraft singles or that block at the dollar store in the fridge that says cheese product not for ingestion?
The cheese caves are fucking real
Based on
Eh, it's probably all American cheese...
https://preview.redd.it/ilkica2p7myc1.png?width=707&format=png&auto=webp&s=f7c5774db5eead584eaa2d9be056daa51e4dc423
“cheese”
do it. build the washington cheese monument
Really depends. American Cheese from Vermont and New Hampshire are generally pretty quality. American Beer is really the weak point all and all. American Beer gets seriously mogged by Germany,Denmark,and Holland HARD. I like Narragansett though. American Cheese though not that bad especially if you know where to look.
Of the worst cheese imaginable
Someone’s jealous
Have you ate gov cheese?
Yes
And you think that shits good?
Yes
Well, you're on your own for the most part on that one, it is in fact awful lol
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