But I am in favor of giving farmers an equal break. Limestone caves in the Kansas City area have been used to store immigration records for years. Looking for more unusual places in Missouri? Lever 2, more demand - you could try to convince the public that they want to drink more milk. You took away my customers. ASCHEBROCK: It was 10 times better than - I hate - you know, Velveeta is OK. Known as the Springfield Underground, this is a cheese cave of epic proportions covering a . MALONE: Within five years, the government was storing two pounds of cheese for every single American citizen. The USDA helped "cut the glut" then by purchasing $20 million worth of fresh cheese. (SOUNDBITE OF KAZAM'S "ROMANTIQUE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. You don't do that, huh? MALONE: At one point, Donnie Wahlberg of the New Kids On The Block said, quote, "there's nothing like it. And you can drive your car right into it. 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. They also house a massive frozen-food storage complex, a paintball business, and a US Postal Service facility that stores and distributes new stamps. History is a mystery. We can't find a market for it. NOVAKOVIC: (Laughter) That was the unintended consequence that was fun. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: A state official estimated 300,000 people will get a taste of today's cheese. Visit a sweet shop selling one of the first candies ever made and sold in America. MALONE: Bob says the No. MALONE: Many listeners may remember "Saturday Night Live's" Matt Foley, as played by Chris Farley, the world's worst motivational speaker. See. 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. San Francisco is one of three cities in which needy people lined up to get the surplus cheese. DUFFIN: Nevertheless, when Carter got elected, he goes all in. Stay up to date with what you want to know. 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. Have you seen these caves before? It doesn't take long to see the three caves, but once you're here, you'll spend a long time looking and exploring. 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. 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. DUFFIN: Finding a market for this stuff is in fact a pretty fascinating puzzle because getting rid of government surplus anything is an economically tricky thing. Along with Congress, Carter wanted to raise the price of milk 6 cents per gallon and keep raising it with inflation. MALONE: I'm Kenny Malone. As a busy mother of one crazy kid, two cats, and two geckos, they write whenever there is spare time. Cheese-makers buy more milk. MALONE: He and his colleagues are drowning in cheese. DUFFIN: But that does not work for milk because milk starts going bad the minute it comes out of the cow. You've got to be on they special mailing list. China props up pork prices by buying surplus for its frozen pork reserve. Try the frozen treat that inspired Arrested Development's famous banana stand. The Federal Government stores tons of surplus cheese and other dairy products in the mines. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MARTHA & SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY"). And the resulting demand just pushes the price of milk up. Over the course of the decade, inflation in the U.S. skyrocketed from 5.5 percent up to 14 percent. Buoyed by items like Wendys dual Double Melt sandwich concept and Taco Bells steak quesadilla, the organization helped boost cheese sales by more than 30 million pounds. SubTropolis is used by around 50 businesses and organizations, for a variety of purposes. 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. Ever wonder what its like to work underground? A large portion is also owned by companies, who . In addition, the Federal Government will spend $40 million to $50 million this year to transport even more dairy . MALONE: Again, our dairy economist Andy Novakovic. The 55,000,000-square-foot, 1,100-acre underground storage facility is believed to be the worlds largest site of its kind. And Congress is like wait - no, we also love the farmers. And not all of it was aging well. The cheese came in handy for Ronald Reagan's "government cheese" program, which released 30 million pounds of the lactose-laden dairy product (paywall) to any state that applied. 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AUDIE CORNISH, BYLINE: The White House is coming to the aid of farmers hurt by its own hard-line trade policies. Kraft Foods, the multinational conglomerate that makes countless grocery products in addition to cheese, is about none of that, however. MALONE: Now, to be fair, that's probably not enough to start filling caves again. Its oddly fascinating! CARTER: But I am in favor of giving farmers an equal break. It is huge. Like SubTropolis, the strangely sterile space is separated by humungous numbered pillars. The easier solution - maybe - the government could just start buying a ton of milk themselves. The government tiptoed back into the cheese business in 2019 when the Trump administration said it was using the CCC program again to provide large subsidies to offset the effects of its trade. But every instinct I had said, oh, this - I'm not so sure this is going to work out so well. 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. Over the years, the industry has found all sorts of ways to get rid of its excess supplysome more insidious than others. These days, units are available for business leasing or to store items that would benefit from the particular climate control found underground. A native Midwesterner with a love for family, friends, and learning new things. 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. What is cave cheese? [4]. MALONE: By this point, Jimmy Carter was out of office. MALONE: Bob Aschebrock spent 30 years as a USDA cheese inspector. (Shouting) Government cheese. Starting in 1995, a government nonprofit has promoted a pro-dairy policy - in direct opposition to the Department of Agriculture and government nutritionists. Help yourself. The government would buy as much milk as it took to move that price. 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. Gastro Obscura covers the worlds most wondrous food and drink. Cheese-makers buy more milk. Turns out, cave living is naturally energy efficient. There is a. The massive. If youve been in the cheeky, sophisticated Campground bar, youve set foot where the original J. Rieger & Co. building stood. It also could have tried to send it overseas as foreign aid, like we do with other surplus commodities. It is estimated that Kansas has more than 700 and caves, and almost 350 are in the Red Hills. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. 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. NOVAKOVIC: Yeah. MALONE: When we have a surplus of grain or soy or even powdered milk, we can send that stuff overseas as part of foreign aid. NOVAKOVIC: Exactly. Pour the dissolved yeast into the well and add enough warm water to make a soft dough. Slice a package of sausages or dice some ham, or both, you do you. The Campground recently unearthed pieces of the distillerys tile floor as they were renovating their own bar. MALONE: This must be a common confusion in the industry. Before that, he was a reporter for Miami's WLRN. I am in an old, converted limestone mine. And though OMalleys looks normal from the outside, the inside tells another story. So the thing that the government was concerned about is what's called commercial displacement. Starting around the 1950s, investors started finding ways to use the abandoned underground space. It sounds amazing. KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and powerful storytelling. The program is meant to "purchase Mozzarella, Process and Natural American Cheddar Cheese for the National School Lunch Program and other Federal food nutrition assistance programs." To learn more about the best caves in Missouri, read our article here. DAN CALLAHAN: No, I've never thought about it. He spent 30 years testing and tasting cheese for the United States government. MALONE: Today's episode was produced by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, Nick Fountain and Rhaina Cohen. ASCHEBROCK: And that's what you grade. The National Archives' Central Plains regional archives is moving into the heart of Kansas City's cultural and historic area. MALONE: Yes. Every weekday we compile our most wondrous stories and deliver them straight to you. ASCHEBROCK: I'm not running down Velveeta, but I'll tell you, the government processed loaf was 10 times - 100 times better. MALONE: Are you pretty annoying to eat cheese with? You don't want that? Weve looked and looked at ways to deal with this, but the distribution problems are incredible, a USDA official was quoted as saying. He says the government was buying powdered milk, butter and cheddar cheese - only grade-A cheddar, though. 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. What would the government do if you drove this into downtown Washington and said, here you go? They are open spaces of various sizes and shapes that often intersect with each another or with different generated structures, creating vast cave systems. It has a grid of 16 feet high, 40 foot wide tunnels separated by 25 foot square limestone pillars created by the room and pillar method of hard rock mining. MALONE: That is right. ASCHEBROCK: But then we had the issue of storing the stuff. 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. DUFFIN: It's one thing for politicians to say, we want the price of milk to go up. Myths surround the cave, as they do with many of Missouri's caverns. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. SNOOP DOGG: You don't buy it. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. You may even encounter some paranormal activity while youre exploring. Ashley Day. Youll have to climb down to get to it, led mysteriously by a sequence of ramps and labyrinthine walkways. How would you like to work underground? 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. 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. 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. 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. BOB ASCHEBROCK: Yes. give poor Americans a slice of the cheese surplus., exactly popular with all of its recipients. DUFFIN: More graders grading more cheese that the government then buys. Unfortunately, your shopping bag is empty. Today, the National Archives has four underground facilities. Grab a latte at the birthplace of modern American skateboarding. NOVAKOVIC: So we have, you know, this immense surplus, and now you have the political problem. MALONE: And so our country has a tradition of programs to help farmers. MALONE: You can see pictures of the cheese cave. But one day, the government rented out a ton of cave space, and then cheddar cheese started to show up, massive blocks of the stuff, pallet after pallet. And the European Union has a long, scandalous history of accumulating butter mountains, wine lakes, and milk lakesthe latter of which consisted of vast quantities of skim milk powder housed in warehouses in Germany, Belgium, and France. Which makes for a thriving underground business community, as unnerving as a giant hole in the side of a bluff may be. I can tell you what we had to reject it for - flat, bitter, yeasty, malty, old milk, fruity MALONE: That sounds lovely. Visitors to the underworld will even find a whiskey distillery within the mined area, which stretches for more than 1 million square feet. So the thing that the government was concerned about is what's called commercial displacement. The Country Club Plaza. OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. No, it doesnt have to do with the disastrous flooding experienced there in 1903 and 1951. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. In 1949, the Agricultural Act allowed a government agency to buy up dairy products to stabilize prices. Want more adventures like this? JAY-Z: (Rapping) After that government cheese, we eatin' steak. This is, you know, important to me. Each year, several foot races are run in the cave system. 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. A set of caves along Interstate 435 offered a convenient cold-storage option. MALONE: One of the ways Carter proposed giving farmers an equal break was to raise the price of milk by about 6 cents per gallon, which was kind of a lot at the time. 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. That doesn't look great. Government buys more cheese. Offer subject to change without notice. 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. When maple syrup supplies run low, Canada taps into its strategic reserve. 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,. The New York Times declared that the bill would give poor Americans a slice of the cheese surplus.. ", (SOUNDBITE OF NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK SONG, "YOU GOT IT (THE RIGHT STUFF)"). By: Anne D Springfield and Kansas City are not even near each other, and 435 is no where near Springfield, this article is quite confusing. It was - some of it almost taste like natural cheddar. Decades of propping up the dairy industryby buying up surplus. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MARTHA AND SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY"). NOVAKOVIC: Well, I think there's two basic lessons. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. In 1887, J. Rieger & Co. distillers of top-notch whiskey, vodka and gin put down roots in the Livestock Exchange district of West Bottoms. ASCHEBROCK: There is a bung - what they call a bunghole up on the top. About 3.2 acres of available space are added each year as active mining continues. allegiant flights from sioux falls to mesa az; missouri cheese caves wikipedia. NOVAKOVIC: As you can imagine, the cheese company that's in the business of selling cheese is going to say - hey, what's the deal here? Onandaga Cave is one of the most gorgeous underground places in Missouri. 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. MALONE: Until there was no more room for you to be in this room? A NASA employee needing an area to test sensitive navigational instruments was among the first official cave occupants. In the 1990s and early 2000s, even as U.S. nutritionists expressed growing concern about saturated fats and rising obesity levels, a marketing firm created and partially funded by the USDA gave millions to fast-food companies such as Taco Bell and Dominos to push them to increase the amount of cheese on menu items by as much as eightfold. as well as other partner offers and accept our, http://eapcontent.ap.org/jpg/2015/20150914/16/be46cf305fa20029820f6a70670013cf.jpg?contentid=be46cf305fa20029820f6a70670013cf/fmt=jpg/role=Preview/reldt=2015-09-14T16:35:59/media=Photo/recordid=a772a7d9f93f488487ec5a05e64f976a/itemid=a772a7d9f93f488487ec5a05e64f976a/objfilename=preview.jpg/authToken=eNotikEKwyAURE%2bkzNf4NQuhV4lWwUVj0Ei78PC10FnM48Gb6eNZG%2bsIO4OwRg4zFh%2fSxjFrCJMPJQC1C6eQBR8WbFemY56j%2b1jPu5Uw7tr6I4xeztTX9fJMTcb6mtfb%2f5UMZrk8b5LAkn4k8wXMhif%2b&token=1442512801_9D4E1758BD6D116C2F559647389B3542, NOW WATCH: Incredible video inside Hang Son Doong the largest cave in the world. Long situated in a warehouse-style facility far from the major business district of Kansas . Dug into the Bethany Falls limestone mine, SubTropolis is, in places, 160 feet (49m) beneath the surface. 41, no. Each week, KCUR's Adventure! ANDY NOVAKOVIC: Exactly. What are the most unusual places in Missouri? DUFFIN: Or you can try to get your surplus goods to people who were not going to buy it anyway. No, it isn't money but actually cheese, 1.4 billion pounds of it to be exact, stored in a cave in Missouri. 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.. BOB ASCHEBROCK: Yes. 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.

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