Using Kansas City's underground caves to age cheese could be boon to region's cheese makers It still didn't seem right but I went ahead and drove into the cave. Youll love exploring this amazing geological wonder. SubTropolis, a 55 million-square-foot limestone cave which houses a range of businesses underground in Kansas City. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. DUFFIN: And when news gets out that the government is filling a cave with cheese, the press goes nuts because this is exactly what people think of when they think of a government program gone awry. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: The great cheese giveaway began today in California. SubTropolis is a 55,000,000-square-foot (5,100,000m2), 1,100-acre (4.5km2) artificial cave in the bluffs above the Missouri River in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, that is claimed to be the world's largest underground storage facility. Make sure to come up for fresh air, as well as bangers and mash. The tunnel was complete, though steep, so a new one was built to weave through it at a lower grade. KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and powerful storytelling. It's deteriorating. MALONE: That did some good. DUFFIN: But the problem, Andy says, was that a lot of this was not easy-to-give-away cheese. So they created a brand-new special program to give the cheese away through food banks. That's because it maintains the proper humidity that cheese needs to ripen to peak flavor and texture, just like a real cheese cave. MALONE: Yes. You'll receive your first newsletter soon! Jimmy Carter has announced his plan to help farmers. And welcome to PLANET MONEY. DUFFIN: Government cheese starts to show up in all kinds of popular culture. In 1976, Jimmy Carter got on a stage and said something seemingly innocuous. Back in 2018, The New York Times did a profile on Gene Peters, chief executive of Rosnet, a restaurant software company out of Parkville, Missouri. We know there are a few places where youre allowed to explore public caves, but theyre sometimes hard to find or access. MALONE: You were hired as someone to show up with a metal thing ASCHEBROCK: Not - no, no, no. All rights reserved. In 2016, dairy farmers resorted to simply dumping 43 million gallons of milk down the drain. This restaurant serves wood-fired fare served in a natural cave with a live spring. At the time, the distillery offered over a hundred products, which were distributed by mail order across the country. With temperatures maintained at 25F and 35F, staff have nicknamed the space the "Ice Cube." (SOUNDBITE OF KAZAM'S "ROMANTIQUE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. DUFFIN: It is a case study in what happens when price controls run full speed into the realities of the market. He says the government was buying powdered milk, butter and cheddar cheese - only grade-A cheddar, though. Now heres a story that comes full circle. That doesn't look great. In fact, if you see my shape, you would know that I eat enough to keep the tank full. MALONE: And so our country has a tradition of programs to help farmers. JIMMY CARTER: Now, although I am a farmer, I'm not in favor of guaranteeing farmers a profit. NOVAKOVIC: Exactly. Add 16 oz of macaroni, or shells to the pressure cooker and enough water to cover the noodles completely. MALONE: Even if that bite just looks like some delicious cheese. 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. (Shouting) Government cheese. 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. The brick structure 9th & State calls home is one of a few left standing since those raucous Paris of the Plains days. The young people do - they say, well, I can't go out with a girl or I can't go out with a guy because I'm on the road all the time. https://bit.ly/2CdCooV Theorists, did you know the government is hiding caves full of cheese from us? You could destroy the surplus, but that looks pretty bad. ANDY NOVAKOVIC: Exactly. And in order to do this, they have to be willing to buy all of the cheese that anybody wants to sell them at this price. Ashley Day. While many of the caves feature paved roads and utilities, other areas consist of dirt floors and uncontrolled entrances. What is cave cheese? Andy Novakovic spent his summers as a kid working on his grandparents' dairy farm in Wisconsin. So to prevent this, the government said, look - if we're going to buy your cheese, first, you have to meet with Bob. MALONE: Government cheese became a symbol of a crappy government handout. MALONE: Bob Aschebrock spent 30 years as a USDA cheese inspector. In 1949, the Agricultural Act allowed a government agency to buy up dairy products to stabilize prices. MALONE: Today's episode was produced by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, Nick Fountain and Rhaina Cohen. In 1887, J. Rieger & Co. distillers of top-notch whiskey, vodka and gin put down roots in the Livestock Exchange district of West Bottoms. You need a hacksaw. China props up pork prices by buying surplus for its frozen pork reserve. 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. ANDY NOVAKOVIC: Oh, yeah. 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. +44 (0)7540 787812 frances@constructionandbuildingphotography.com. Its existence serves as a reminder of Kansas Citys knack for innovative transportation especially as new railways for the streetcar go down all along Main Street. 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. DUFFIN: With a few other programs and some time, things eventually got under control, and the government put the milk support program on a kind of permanent suspension. This story was first published in KCUR's Creative Adventure newsletter. 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. Want more adventures like this? I dont even need a coat in the winter.. ASCHEBROCK: But then we had the issue with storing the stuff. Before that, he was a reporter for Miami's WLRN. Sign up for our email, delivered twice a week. The two larger caves were used by the Faris family as a spring house, generator room and, a schoolhouse as well. Government agents were in uncharted territory. MALONE: So instead, the cheddar cheese was processed - that helps it keep longer - and then it was repackaged in two and five-pound, like, bricks. 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. The USDA helped "cut the glut" then by purchasing $20 million worth of fresh cheese. DUFFIN: And this is what people will remember as government cheese because when a government starts to give away hundreds of millions of pounds of cheese, people notice. Get more stories delivered right to your email. I am currently about 35 feet underground in an old converted limestone mine that is the size of 120 football fields. 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. It also could have tried to send it overseas as foreign aid, like we do with other surplus commodities. 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. The New York Times declared that the bill would give poor Americans a slice of the cheese surplus.. And so they try to hire more cheese graders. . 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. 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By 1984, the U.S. storage facilities contained 1.2 billion pounds, or roughly five pounds of cheese for every American. DUFFIN: Like, hey, people of America, wouldn't you like to drink more milk? 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. MALONE: He and his colleagues are drowning in cheese. No? There's a lot of history buried beneath Kansas City streets, from Prohibition-era passageways and underground caves to the oldest bar in Missouri. Yet part of this cheese mountain represents an enduring surplusa very literal representation of the dairy industrys mismatch with the realties of the market. Metallic, sour, whey taint, weedy, onion, barny, lipase and sulfide. To see the best of them, embark on this road trip to Missouris best abandoned places. Do you or does someone you know work at SubTropolis? MALONE: The government cheese caves started to empty out. San Francisco is 1 of 3 cities in which needy people lined up to get the surplus cheese. MALONE: Andy is still in the dairy world. NOVAKOVIC: Well, I think there's two basic lessons. The year was 1981, and President Ronald Reagan had a cheese problem. MALONE: Again, our dairy economist Andy Novakovic. Expand All. It was ready to start buying cheese. The way it melts for a hamburger - there is nothing better. MALONE: Until there was no more room for you to be in this room. Which makes for a thriving underground business community, as unnerving as a giant hole in the side of a bluff may be. Posted on June 8, 2022 ; in pete davidson first snl episode; by I wonder how old some of these marks are? A NASA employee needing an area to test sensitive navigational instruments was among the first official cave occupants. Cheese Caves Myth: Debunked. NOVAKOVIC: You can imagine the cheese company that's in the business of selling cheese is going to say, hey, what's the deal here? DUFFIN: Just this week, we finally learned some of the details. Search Query Show Search Podcasts & Shows And it's the most government packaging you will ever see - just, like, brown cardboard, some black USDA stamps on it. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. Like SubTropolis, the strangely sterile space is separated by humungous numbered pillars. MALONE: Karen's doing the dance. In 1949, the Agricultural Act first gave the Commodity Credit Corporation, a government-owned agency created to stabilize farm incomes, authority to purchase dairy products. NOVAKOVIC: Well, probably, you know, close to a hundred percent are able.