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American Cheese Surplus Reaches Record High
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there's a 1.4 billion-pound cheese surplus. "The glut, which at 900,000 cubic yards is the largest in U.S. history, means that there is enough cheese sitting in cold storage to wrap around the U.S. Capitol," reports NPR. Americans managed to consume nearly 37 pounds per capita in 2017, but that wasn't enough to reduce the surplus. From the report: The stockpile started to build several years ago, in large part because the pace of milk production began to exceed the rates of consumption, says Andrew Novakovic, professor of agricultural economics at Cornell University. Over the past 10 years, milk production has increased by 13 percent because of high prices. But what dairy farmers failed to realize was that Americans are drinking less milk. According to data from the USDA, Americans drank just 149 pounds of milk per capita in 2017, down from 247 pounds in 1975.
Suppliers turn that extra milk into cheese because it is less perishable and stays fresh for longer periods. But Americans are turning their noses up at those processed cheese slices and string cheese -- varieties that are a main driver of the U.S. cheese market -- in favor of more refined options, Novakovic tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson. Despite this shift, sales of mozzarella cheese, the single largest type of cheese produced and consumed in the U.S., remain strong, he says. Novakovic also notes that imported cheeses tend to cost more, so when people choose those, they buy less cheese overall. The growing surplus of American-made cheese and milk means that prices are declining. The current average price of whole milk is $15.12 per 100 pounds, which is much lower than the price required for dairy farmers to break even.
Suppliers turn that extra milk into cheese because it is less perishable and stays fresh for longer periods. But Americans are turning their noses up at those processed cheese slices and string cheese -- varieties that are a main driver of the U.S. cheese market -- in favor of more refined options, Novakovic tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson. Despite this shift, sales of mozzarella cheese, the single largest type of cheese produced and consumed in the U.S., remain strong, he says. Novakovic also notes that imported cheeses tend to cost more, so when people choose those, they buy less cheese overall. The growing surplus of American-made cheese and milk means that prices are declining. The current average price of whole milk is $15.12 per 100 pounds, which is much lower than the price required for dairy farmers to break even.
Cheesus Christ that's a lot of cheese!
"The glut, which at 900,000 cubic yards is the largest in U.S. history, means that there is enough cheese sitting in cold storage to wrap around the U.S. Capitol,"
Awesome! The artist Christo merely wrapped the German Parliament in cloth. Wrapping the US Capitol in cheese would absolutely top that!
Now, if we also have a surplus of bacon . . . we could also wrap it in that, and fry that bastard, and have lunch for the rest of the year!
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
is for baby cows.
If an industry consistently produces more than consumers demand and has prices below break even, the normal market response would be for some of the producers to go out of business. The only reason they don't is because of government subsidies. There's no good reason for the government to constantly exempt farmers from the normal law of supply and demand.
There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.
I love cheese, fancy or not. But it's expensive. Quit hoarding, lower the price, and I'll eat it! Dairy product boom and bust is nothing new in the U.S. When I was a kid, dairy was like some kind of strategic item, with practically a command economy, government subsidies always coming and going. Our neighbor (farmer) got in and out of the dairy business every few years, following the subsidies. In fat (ha ha) years, the government was giving the stuff away.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
I'd buy yogurt daily, but my supermarket stopped carrying key-lime flavored whole milk yogurt. And every single other whole milk yogurt that isn't plain or in a three dollar glass jar. Damn lowfat poseur wannabe fake yogurt eaters.
Maybe if the cheese was of a better quality like you get elsewhere in the world it would sell better?
Also, cheese isn't the only thing to do with excess milk - butter and milk powder are globally traded commodities.
Do the Chinese buy up US-made infant formula like they do Australian and New Zealand formulas?
Also interesting to note that the article talked about consolidation of diary farms, but what it omitted is that on a global scale, the average US dairy farm is still what would be considered a hobby farm in Australia and New Zealand (the world's largest exporter of dairy products)
If Americans aren't eating processed cheese slices or string cheese, the Feds should be discouraging dairy farmers from making it. Sell off what they've got in storage to supply the market, and get the farmers to make other cheeses instead, such as Swiss, Cheddar, Muenster and Jack. Also, get them to make more yogurt, as that's very popular now especially among the health conscious and those trying to lose weight.
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True mozzarella is made from buffalo not cow's
ignorance is not an excuse
Mozzarella was granted Protected Designation of Origin status by the European Union in 1996
And Trump criticizes Canada's supply management which is aimed to discourage overproduction. Jesus.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
These are the results of corporate America not responding quickly enough (and maybe doubling down against) to demands by Americans for healthier foods. I feel badly for the small farmers that are adversely impacted because they basically produce what the larger buyers order them to produce. I recall something the President of Kraft Foods said in the 1960s. He said that these preservatives were made for the space race and to keep food fresh for astronauts on long trips. He specifically said these preservatives are not safe for long term consumption. It just goes to show Corporate America doesn't give a flying fuck about you and me past the money we give.
You are exactly correct. This isn't a problem with capitalism, but government intervention.
The government is PAYING farmers to produce milk... Disrupting the natural supply and demand curbs.. Over 70% of producer's profits come from the government, so we are getting loads of extra production that cannot be used.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/dairy-subsidies-government-farm-programs-surplus-cheese/
Capitalism is doing that it does best and producing what it can sell, only in this case the government is paying for a bunch of it so we have more than we can use. Yet again another way government wastes your money....
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Just stop f'ing subsidizing stuff. The end result is always uneconomic, unintended consequences. And, "American cheese" just sucks, anyway. If they're going to build a cheese bank, make it aged Cheddar or Colby or Gouda (IMHO).
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Time for a world record Fondue!
What's more the obvious solution is for our dairy industry to start making more expensive cheeses and carving into the imports.
Could it be that the product isn't cheese? The label says "pasteurized process cheese food". Send it to any cheese producing region in the world and see how it's received by the locals. My mom made grilled cheese sandwiches when I was a child but I wouldn't eat the stuff today. Local stores carry a wide variety of cheese with different flavors and textures.
You're talking like the free market system has a hope in hell of working with dairy in an efficient way. There's a reason why most countries regulate the dairy market.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Gov like to control price, production, quota, tax, import, export, subsidies... the end result is always the same: too much or not enough.
Ask the Russians how well this central planning thing works... Oh that's right, that country split up because it's economy died and now days few folks are alive that experienced what it does to you, unless you happen to live in Venezuela right now....
Where did the Russian Oligarchs come from? They were the central planners profiting off the system. Not so different than what we have in place now.
Government cheese! I've made a few omelets from it back in the 80s. The stuff was pretty decent. Do they still distribute it?
Excellent story about it at Planet Money: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/31/643486297/episode-862-big-government-cheese
SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
Then why is anything better than spray-cheese so bloody expensive?
"But Americans are turning their noses up at those processed cheese slices"
Since the late 80s most Americans except the poor have turned their noses up at this crap. If you're only now realizing this, then you're so out of touch with reality that it is no surprise that America's dairy farmers are facing such a shortage of sales and money.
Processed 'cheese' isn't cheese at all, so get rid of that shit to start with.
... to produce more tasty meat. Oh, sorry, I did forget that feeding natural food to living beings is kind of a no-go in the US. But seriously, you should at least once taste local specialties like the "Tiroler Milchkalb" in Austria, those are calves actually fed with cow milk, and you can taste the difference.
TFS Didn't say cheese. It said "American Cheese". That's the problem. No one wants to eat American Cheese.
I've got some lovely French cheese in the fridge at home.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Potential as a building material? I mean, if they could make the moon out of it. Just sayin'
There's no good reason for the government to constantly exempt farmers from the normal law of supply and demand.
There is a reason, and it's a damn good one: To regulate supply and stabilize pricing.
Think about it: have you ever had to worry about food, really, really worry about it? A moderate price increase due to increasing oil prices at the turn of the century is the closest our country has ever come to a "food crisis". There has never been a serious food shortage or price inflation for food in the US for as long as I've been alive.
It used to not be that way. You can go back to the 70s, and read about how rapidly fluctuating food prices created quite a political stir, as evidenced by the April 1973 cover of Time Magazine. If you study the data on this page, you can see both how food prices (particularly beef) stabilized after 1980, and how the average worker has seen a steady increase over time in the amount of food that can be purchased with their wages.
That has been the primary purpose of the US Farm Bill: to encourage, subsidize, and regulate the food market, stabilizing pricing and providing ample food supply. Because when there's oversupply, people complain about food going to waste. When there's a lack of supply, people riot and governments collapse. Which would you really prefer?
WIC, food stamps, SNAP, or others...give it to them.
What I strange topic to come up now. Last night, I was wondering what exactly "American cheese" is. I looked it up on Wikipedia and from there I started reading on Wikipedia about the sizeable cheese stockpiles in various countries.
Odd that this would come up on Slashdot the next day.
OTOH, it took Russia from a peasant society to a space fairing society in 50 years. If they hadn't been so rigid and moved to a mixed economy, they still might be doing well. Of course, the other problems they had like corruption and complacent government probably would have got them.
It's one of the big advantages of democracy, rotating governments before they get too complacent and corrupt, which will kill any system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
Living overseas, I cannot find American Cheese or a decent Cheddar ANYWHERE!
Send all that Land o Lakes American and Cabot Cheddar Cheese overseas! I need to show these locals how Americans get fat (and what good, stick-to-your-ribs mac-n-cheese is)!
Please, Wright Brothers to Moon Landing was only 66 years. The whole world moves fast now.
There's a reason why most countries regulate the dairy market.
What reason is that?
How come the countries that do NOT subsidize dairy have not seen the sky collapse?
If it were totally 100% left up to the free market, the REAL situation we'd have with food supplies is that they'd wildly thrash back and forth between abundance and scarcity.
Most countries don't subsidize dairy, and many don't subsidize farms or food at all. Please provide some examples of the "thrashing" that occurs in these countries.
It's a surplus of cheese made in America, not a surplus of "American" Cheese....
And you can largely thank our government for having a consistent food supply. The government heavily regulates what's grown and how it's grown via those subsidies. Before that we had over farming and farmers growing too much of the same, profitable crops until they market saturated and collapsed....
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In 1900 America was much more advanced then Russia, which still had an aristocracy that traded in peasants and a big secret police bureaucracy. America also didn't sacrifice a large chunk of its population and industrial base to win WWII or have people like Stalin in charge to set things back.
Another example is China, who once they did switch to a more mixed system advanced pretty quick. When I was a kid, it was "eat your dinner, there's millions of starving Chinese". They were also smart enough to switch governments from the progressive to conservative parts of the party every 8 years, not too different from America. Now that Xi has decided to be dictator for life, they'll probably run into the complacency leading to corruption and no innovation problems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
The only country I know of with deregulated milk is Austrailia, and they have experienced a great amount of instability with waves of dairy farmers quitting the industry.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Do you REALLY want to live in a world where food becomes genuinely seasonal and regional again, and you have to plan "what do I feel like eating tonight" around "what does the store actually have available to PURCHASE this week?"
Yes.
I for one can't wait for the "more refined options". There have been some good domestic cheeses appearing. There's no reason Wisconsin couldn't produce cheeses that are easily on par with the famous French varieties for half the price. I'm looking forward to $6/lb Wisconsin "Epoisses". :-)
Imagine how many gigabags of Doritos this much cheese could be made into!
Cheese is a kind of meat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Nothing beats gooey melty AMERICAN cheese on a burger. No other cheese turns into such a perfect melty sauce like the processed stuff.
Scott
Keeping americans cheesed up during the lean times ahead.
Clearly, we need to make America Grate again.
"Cats like plain crisps"
It's just a buffer/capacitor for food supply and food prices.
If it were totally 100% left up to the free market, the REAL situation we'd have with food supplies is that they'd wildly thrash back and forth between abundance and scarcity.
No they won't. Any smart farmer or investor will see it happening once or twice and buy up farms that are going out of business. When supply falls far enough, they'll restart production and be the first to make a huge profit. If they're a food distributor, they'll be buying a lot of freezers to store food when it's cheap, selling it when it gets expensive.
This happens so often that people invented the entire futures market to deal with this problem before it even occurs.
Your sig is rather on topic in this case, though rather wrong. (Celine's first law? She should stick to singing.) We have an ample food supply in the US and won't starve in the case of embargo or war. It is, in fact, national security. Quite frankly I'd rather 'waste' tax money to stabilize food prices and ensure US food production capacity over most other spending. Fortunately, the cost is not so great on the national scale of things - $20 billion dollars per year. Worth it.
Yes, I'd rather not put ethanol in my gas tank. It degrades my gas mileage.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
And dont preach market forces at me when US farms are subsedisd. We do that in the EU and... Glut happens.
This perpetual motion machine Lisa made is a joke, it just keeps getting faster and faster. - Homer
Time for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to do an "EAT MORE PIZZA" public service announcement. I'm off to collect my Nobel for economics.
Before about 14 years old I probably drunk more milk than water because milk was delicious and inexpensive. Then the public media campaign about eating healthy, counting calories and fats began. And that must have hit everyone's milk consumption badly. I mean, one cup of 2% milk, that's 8 ounces, contains over one hundred calories, some fat and even cholesterol. And I can't get buy with only 8ounces of fluid when eating a meal. So eventually I switched to diet soda, and then lemonade, unsweet iced tea and such, even though deep down I know that fresh milk is more delicious.
It's the same story in the UK, with many closures and a terrible suicide rate. Small family-run dairy farms are no longer profitable, and the outright abuse of such farmers by big supermarkets and buying groups really should have been investigated. Many were running for years at a loss due to how they were screwed over by them. The milk market seems badly broken.
Have you never tried it with some slices of extra mature cheddar? It melts under the grill just as well as processed cheese and tastes so much better. Shame I became so lactose intolerant I can't have even a small bit of the stuff.
they could process it into house style bricks, leave it outside for a few months to go stale and hard and then Trump can use them to build his wall. might attract all the "rats" he complains about too...
"The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
That's about 688,331 cubic meters, or...
11,628,410,000 Imperial Teaspoons
One reason is that you can't ship any kind of raw milk cheese across state borders in the US unless the cheese has aged for at least 60 days. This eliminates a large number of very delicious cheeses that can't survive for 60 days, such as authentic Camembert, Roquefort, and Brie. (Or whatever they'd be called when made by Americans.) Plus, most milk that's pasteurized in the US is done via ultra-high temperature pasteurization, which ruins quite a bit of the milk's flavor. UHT is a lot cheaper to do than slower, lower temperature pasteurization. Both things serve to radically reduce the quality of American cheese, even if it's not American cheese.
You're talking like the free market system has a hope in hell of working with dairy in an efficient way. There's a reason why most countries regulate the dairy market.
Woosh!
No, I'm saying government intervention has messed things up in the free market system and THAT'S why it's not working efficiently.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
What many Americans think is cheese could not legally be sold as cheese in many parts of the world, because it's not actually cheese.
We were in Florida a few years ago, and we bought those "American" cheese slices at Wal Mart (for my father in law, because he eats like a child) ... I kid you not, the package said something like "artificial simulated cheese slices" or something like that.
I was like, wait, what ... it's fake fake cheese?
Whatever the hell it was, it was pretty far removed from what I'd call cheese, just some kind of polymerized oil. It may not have even had the word "cheese" on the packaging anywhere.
Pretty gross stuff.
A lot of that surplus is Cheddar. What's happening right now? That's right, it's aging! Aged cheddar is better, therefore this is just an opportunity in disguise.
Wonder if we can finally get rid of milk price controls, since leftists hate rural people now.
But only from the deli. A lot of people don't even seem to know there is decent american cheese and think that kraft crap and clones are the only option.
We have people going hungry right here.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
Try living in a region where essentially no fruit is grown, the only major local vegetable is the potato, and the only local nut (aside from the politicians) is the sunflower seed. You'll soon be thankful for the ability to ship an orange a few thousand miles cheaply.
It is the peak of irony to me that the same people who insist on local, seasonal food have no qualms purchasing their underwear from India, their televisions and phones from China, and their vehicles from Japan and Mexico.
The argument that, historically, people only ate what was available locally to them so we should try to replicate that model for all time holds no weight with me because:
1. Historically people didn't have access to cheap shipping of food, so they were forced to eat locally (not by choice or for health reasons), and
2. Maybe people shouldn't live outside the tropical zone where fresh fruit and vegetables grow all year long if that is truly the best diet.
Double woosh. I'm saying you're wrong. Australia tried that and it is so chaotic to be in that business, farmers left the industry in droves. The key is the right kind of regulation. How about getting rid of the dumb idea that that the government subsidizes for products it doesn't need for one thing.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
The only countries that don't subsidize food production are desert countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar Kuwait ...idiot.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Wallace: "Yes, cheese please!"
You whooshed yourself again?!?!
Do you fucking ever notice that other people contradicted you? Did you know it is possible for them to understand, and still say something different?
You don't have to announce it to the whole world that completely lack "theory of mind" whenever you're confused. You look like a real dumbass waving your hand around like that and making noises.
https://www.reuters.com/articl...
https://www.arabianbusiness.co...
https://www.albawaba.com/busin...
Qatar also has food subsidies, but they're decreasing them to spend the money getting ready for the World Cup in 2022. But they import 40% of their food from Saudi Arabia, so see above.