In addition to serving as a records center, Lenexa has two archival cold storage rooms. And while it might take up two stories above the ground, co-owner Heather Hamilton wonders if there are remnants of a tunnel leading out of the basement. Have you been inside? And you turn it, and you pull out a core of cheese. MALONE: Now, to be fair, that's probably not enough to start filling caves again. DUFFIN: Our supervising producer is Alex Goldmark, and our editor is Bryant Urstadt. It was - some of it almost taste like natural cheddar. The National Archives' Central Plains regional archives is moving into the heart of Kansas City's cultural and historic area. Jimmy Carter has announced his plan to help farmers. glimpse into the void but a modern-day viewing is near-impossible. Government buys more cheese. MALONE: And so our country has a tradition of programs to help farmers. 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. NOVAKOVIC: The federal government wouldn't have the foggiest idea what to do with tanker loads of milk. That number, though, pales in. SubTropolis is used by around 50 businesses and organizations, for a variety of purposes. It is more than a food that. But I am in favor of giving farmers an equal break. Besides those already mentioned, other businesses include Cerner, NextPage, Hallmark Cards, Hantover, Clore Automotive, and Knapheide. In 2016, dairy farmers resorted to simply dumping 43 million gallons of milk down the drain. The Country Club Plaza. MALONE: So if you wanted to sell cheese to the government, Bob would show up with this, like, hollow rod called a cheese trier. Many companies are looking at ways to utilize the hundreds of millions of square feet created in this manner for everything from mushroom farming to crude oil stockpiling. Oh, boy - here we go. DUFFIN: And if you're a cheese seller and you hear this - that someone is going to buy your cheese at this high price - you're like, well, I'm going to sell them my crappiest cheese at that price. DUFFIN: Nevertheless, when Carter got elected, he goes all in. In response to this dairy shortage and 30% inflation . Gastro Obscura covers the worlds most wondrous food and drink. Kenny Malone is a correspondent for NPR's Planet Moneypodcast. The net result of that was overcompensating in using this program to help out farmers, to the point where we wound up creating the most massive dairy surplus in U.S. history.. See. ASCHEBROCK: Will eat any cheese. Imagine watching lines of people wait around to be handed a giant block of moldy, bright orange cheese. MALONE: You were hired as someone to show up with a metal thing ASCHEBROCK: Not - no, no, no. History is a mystery. We don't do milk quotas - no Lever 1. 41, no. To the cheese cave. In fact, it has trademarked the phrase "World's Largest Underground Business Complex." 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. Leading up to the Second World War, dairy was used in this very patriotic waystrengthening our bodies to fight the war.. JOHN BLOCK: You see that cake of cheese? Why Did the U.S. Government Amass More Than a Billion Pounds of Cheese? (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MARTHA & SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY"). India and Bhutan's yak herders face steep challenges. With these historical details in mind, whos to say there isnt a tunnel beneath 9th & State that was used to ferry booze between Missouri and Kansas? Accuracy and availability may vary. DUFFIN: OK. Makes sense, considering the natural limestone ledge bordering the river. Beneath the bar, theres a hollow place in the wall that looks to have been covered up. 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. Have you seen these caves before? NOVAKOVIC: It's really hard to balance what you want to do socially or politically with what you can get away with economically. Now heres a story that comes full circle. Westons downtown district was established in 1837, so theres a lot of history here. Weve written about the 8th Street Tunnel before, and who can blame us? In 2003 the Archives opened an underground FRC facility in Lenexa, Kansas. Kansas City, MO 64112. Unlike corn or wheat, however, milk needed to be converted into more shelf-stable forms, specifically butter, dehydrated skim milk powder, and cheese. MALONE: Again, economist Andy Novakovic. The reason why the dairy industry gets such preferential treatment is its status as this uncontested food in the diet, Wiley says. Born and raised Kansan, Clarisa has lived in both tiny towns and cities during their time here in the Sunflower State. Layer by Layer: A Mexico City Culinary Adventure, Sacred Granaries, Kasbahs and Feasts in Morocco, Monster of the Month: The Hopkinsville Goblins, Writing the Food Memoir: A Workshop With Gina Rae La Cerva, Reading the Urban Landscape With Annie Novak, How to Grow a Dye Garden With Aaron Sanders Head, Making Scents: Experimental Perfumery With Saskia Wilson-Brown, Indigenous Desserts of Turtle Island With Mariah Gladstone, University of Massachusetts Entomology Collection, The Frozen Banana Stands of Balboa Island, The Paratethys Sea Was the Largest Lake in Earths History, How Communities Are Uncovering Untold Black Histories, The Medieval Thieves Who Used Cats, Apes, and Turtles as Accomplices, THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE MAY 21, 2022, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURAS FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. Uncover the finest, most undercover experiences in Kansas City. SNOOP DOGG: (Rapping) And we ghetto like a [expletive] hot buttered toast in the mornin' with some government cheese. Oh, yeah. Last year, the U.S. produced nearly 12 billion pounds of cheese -- an all-time high, according to the USDA. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: A state official estimated 300,000 people will get a taste of today's cheese. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Do you or does someone you know work at SubTropolis? Like SubTropolis, the strangely sterile space is separated by humungous numbered pillars. How do we - how do we get this cat out of the tree? 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. NOVAKOVIC: One is it's really hard to balance what you want to do socially or politically with what you can get away with economically. With the onset of wartime rationing and shortages leading into the Second World War, there were growing fears about the long-term stability of the United States food supply. The government eventually tired of being involved in this . In the 1940s, there was a real concern that we were going to have a hard time keeping up with providing the necessities of life, Novakovi says. MALONE: That did some good. MALONE: For a lot of people who grew up in the 1970s and '80s, you cannot overstate how influential government cheese became. In 1887, J. Rieger & Co. distillers of top-notch whiskey, vodka and gin put down roots in the Livestock Exchange district of West Bottoms. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider ASCHEBROCK: There is a bung - what they call a bunghole up on the top. MALONE: Today's episode was produced by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, Nick Fountain and Rhaina Cohen. Yet part of this cheese mountain represents an enduring surplusa very literal representation of the dairy industrys mismatch with the realties of the market. The walls themselves are limestone, of course. Youve heard about the subterranean chamber beneath the land near Worlds of Fun, right? The Missouri Penitentiary in Jefferson City is rumored to be riddled with spirits. 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. NOVAKOVIC: So we have, you know, this immense surplus, and now you have the political problem. This is, you know, important to me. 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. In addition, the Federal Government will spend $40 million to $50 million this year to transport even more dairy . (Dean Russell/Here & Now) This article is more than 4 years old. He says the government was buying powdered milk, butter and cheddar cheese - only grade-A cheddar, though. By 1984, the U.S. storage facilities contained 1.2 billion pounds, or roughly five pounds of cheese for every American. He's been working here since the 1970s, since the cheese debacle. Government cheese arrived at our home in enormous uncut yellow blocks wrapped in white nondescript cardboard. 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.. All rights reserved. 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. Secretive Experiences Sample spirits made by S.D. So how in the world did the U.S. end up with a mountain of slowly molding cheese? In fact, it has trademarked the phrase Worlds Largest Underground Business Complex. It was developed by late Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt via Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development, Inc. Read on to learn more about the largest underground business complex in Missouri. It was built by a German immigrant named John Georgian, who instead of relying on those trusty limestone caves weve come to know and love dug out his own brewery space beneath Weston. Offer subject to change without notice. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the worlds hidden wonders. With temperatures maintained at 25F and 35F, staff have nicknamed the space the "Ice Cube." These days, units are available for business leasing or to store items that would benefit from the particular climate control found underground. No purchase necessary. JUNOT DIAZ: Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator. Government agents were in uncharted territory. The 55,000 sq ft underground storage facility is the world's largest underground business complex. 's homemade newspaper, Neighborhood News. DUFFIN: More graders grading more cheese that the government then buys. Have you fallen in love with amateur spelunking? 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 here is why government cheese has become a kind of parable of how government intervention in markets can have this, like, butterfly effect. Currently 5,000,000 square feet is occupied and 10,000,000 square feet are "improved.". The easier solution - maybe - the government could just start buying a ton of milk themselves. DUFFIN: It is this moment that government cheese truly enters the American bloodstream. Metallic, sour, whey taint, weedy, onion, barny, lipase and sulfide. 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. The second lesson is you got to pay attention to the unintended consequences because they can come back and bite you and bite you hard. NOVAKOVIC: Yeah. We walk inside. And Andy had a ringside seat to it. ANDY NOVAKOVIC: Exactly. 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. San Francisco is one of three cities in which needy people lined up to get the surplus cheese. DUFFIN: The USDA figured out that if they paid about 39 bucks for a 40-pound block of cheese, then it would have this ripple effect. What are the most unusual places in Missouri? He says the government was buying powdered milk, butter and cheddar cheese - only grade-A cheddar, though. Its at the same park! 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. It is huge. MALONE: You were hired as someone to show up with a metal ASCHEBROCK: Where you do quality checks on it. MALONE: Yes. 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. According to USDA statistics, the average American eats 34.1 pounds of cheese every year and is projected to eat 36.5 pounds by 2024. On the north edge of the complex Hunt developed the Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun amusement park complex. 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. And Congress is like wait - no, we also love the farmers. There's also a trail leading to the top of the area above the caves if you want to keep going! I mean, we had cheese in every cold storage in the United States, including the caves in Kansas that were full of that stuff.
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