Blocks of cheese on shelves

Why The US Government Has A Secret Cheese Cave

NEWS

By CHLOE O'DONNELL

Blocks of cheese on shelves
You may keep a lot of cheese in your fridge, but no cheese stock beats the U.S. government's store of 1.4 billion pounds of cheese, hidden away deep under the surface of Missouri.
A variety of dairy products
In the 1970s, the U.S. faced a challenging economy, including a nationwide shortage of dairy products. The situation led to the government intervening and building the cheese cave.
Jimmy Carter smiling
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter injected $2 billion into the struggling dairy industry
and bought up any milk that
went unsold, saving many
dairy farmers from financial ruin.
Blocks and small cubes of cheese on a wooden surface
The government turned this milk into products like butter, milk powder, and cheese. In the early '80s, the government had over 500 million pounds of cheese stored across 35 states.
Ronald Reagan smiling
At the end of 1981, President Ronald Reagan created the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program to distribute this stock of "government cheese" to low-income communities.
Cheese blocks on shelves
Dairy continues to be produced in excess today. However,
most of the 1.4 billion pounds
of cheese that’s currently in government storage is actually owned by private companies.
Dairy products on counter
The government's practice of stockpiling and distributing cheese and other dairy products helped countless hungry families and the entire American industry in the process.