1.5 Billion Pounds of Cheese: Let's Discuss The US Cheese Stockpile

In this video we are going go explore the lore of US cheese caves and the 1.5 billion dollar United States cheese stockpile--where did it come from? Why does it still exist? And what are we going to do with it? We're discussing it all today.

USDA links:

Dairy Policy https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/animal-products/dairy/policy.aspx

School lunch milk requirements: https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/nutrition-standards-proposed-rule-milk

Cold storage report: https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/pg15bd892/s4656m01d/6q183q71p/cost0422.pdf

Cheese Purchase Program: https://www.ams.usda.gov/content/usda-cheese-purchase-program-announced-0

Articles referenced:

US dairy policies drive small farms to ‘get big or get out’ as monopolies get rich
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/us-dairy-policies-hurt-small-farms-monopolies-get-rich

Cheese Caves And Food Surpluses: Why The U.S. Government Currently Stores 1.4 Billion Lbs Of Cheese
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

Dairy’s Dark Secrets: Handouts & Bailouts
https://thefarmbuzz.com/dairys-dark-secrets-handouts-bailouts/

How the US Ended Up With Warehouses Full of ‘Government Cheese’
https://www.history.com/news/government-cheese-dairy-farmers-reagan

The government cheese phenomenon and the American cheese stockpile today
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/government-cheese-phenomenon-usda-american-cheese-surplus.html

WTF Happened to Government Cheese?
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wn7mgq/wtf-happened-to-government-cheese

Doctors Call on Dietary Guidelines To Ditch Dairy To Fight Racial Health Disparities
https://www.pcrm.org/news/news-releases/doctors-call-dietary-guidelines-ditch-dairy-fight-racial-health-disparities

What Will the U.S. Government Do With 1.4 Billion Pounds of Cheese?
https://psmag.com/economics/what-will-the-us-government-do-with-1-4-billion-pounds-of-cheese

America’s cheese stockpile just hit an all-time high
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/28/americas-cheese-stockpile-just-hit-an-all-time-high/?noredirect=on

There are billions of pounds of cheese stockpiled in the United States. But who owns it?
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/cheese-stockpile-united-states-ownership-fact-check/65-7e4500bd-d32d-4b0a-8007-93458517bd27

Yes, the Government Really Does Stash Billions of Pounds of Cheese in Missouri Caves
https://modernfarmer.com/2022/05/cheese-caves-missouri/

The Big Cheese Lie: No, The U.S. Isn't Sitting On 1.4B Pound Surplus
https://patch.com/us/across-america/big-cheese-lie-no-u-s-isn-t-sitting-1-4b-pound-surplus

US To Buy $20 Million Of Cheese - The Same Idiot Mistake The EU Used To Make
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/08/24/us-to-buy-20-million-of-cheese-the-same-idiot-mistake-the-eu-used-to-make/?sh=4cb249581c0e

How Big is the U.S. Cheese Stockpile?
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/us-cheese-stockpile/

Trump administration makes last-ditch effort to deregulate school nutrition standards
https://thecounter.org/trump-administration-deregulate-school-nutrition-standards-usda-obama/

The Plant-Based Movement to Transition Farmers Away from Meat and Dairy Production
https://civileats.com/2020/01/13/the-plant-based-movement-to-transition-farmers-away-from-meat-and-dairy-production/

‘The happiness and joy has been sucked out of me’: Wisconsin dairy farmers face mental health crisis
https://www.minnpost.com/other-nonprofit-media/2021/01/the-happiness-and-joy-has-been-sucked-out-of-me-wisconsin-dairy-farmers-face-mental-health-crisis/

Wikipedia links:

Dairy Price Support Program: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_Price_Support_Program
Government cheese: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese

Videos referenced:

How Brands Like Domino's Profit From School Lunch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DqdDfiHFQE&ab_channel=CNBC

How Government Cheese Became Welfare For Farmers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPuY0oDGeiw&ab_channel=CNBC

Snoop Dogg/Martha Stewart gov cheese cooking segment: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1931456827066968

In Living Color “Green Eggs and The Guvment Cheese”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHA-l5i43ug&ab_channel=WilliamDavis

In Living Color “Lil Magic: The Government Cheese”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJxF84ImOAU&ab_channel=OldSkoolFunny

SNL “Down by the River”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2VIEY9-A8&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive

Is There REALLY A Cave of Cheese Under My Town?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEi_KV6d8HQ&ab_channel=AustinMcConnell

Intro 00:00
History of US government dairy support 00:27
Government cheese 03:52
Current US cheese stockpile 10:36
Milk in the school lunch program 15:24
The woes of dairy farming 16:38
Final thoughts 19:35
Outro 20:22

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