The cheese crisis: America's cheesy surplus
By Ella Connolly
web posted October 10, 2022
Currently, America is fighting an important issue. This problem is the issue of the overwhelming cheese surplus that has bombarded America for years. Of course, this does not mean cheese is going uneaten, for cheese is a food Americans take very seriously. In fact, each year, over 40 pounds of cheese is consumed by the average American. Altogether, the United State goes through 6,662,145 tons per year. Looking at these numbers, it may seem like people are buying as much cheese as ever, but in reality, cheese has never been less profitable. This occurring cheese problem, which popped up in the 1970s, has once again become an issue. This time, it is partly due to recent lifestyle changes; the increasing popularity of veganism, the desire for healthier options to cheese, and of course, there will always be people with a dislike for the food of cheese. Instead of cheese, more vegan based products used as substitutes to cheese are looking at all-time highs this year.
This cheese surplus, which first started under President Jimmy Carter, was started by the promise to the farmers to help them make more profits. President Carter decided the way best way to do this was to make the milk price higher, but of course, it would be impossible for milk to be bought and stored by the government. Instead, the Carter administration started buying as much cheese as they could possibly could, believing this would benefit the farmers. Unfortunately, the farmers kept on producing more and more cheese in response, and the government couldn’t afford to keep up with the excess. The government was then forced to store the cheese surplus in a cave found in Missouri. The cheese from the initial surplus under the era of President Carter is now held in private companies, but the cheese surplus is still raging. Demand keeps falling continually behind supplies, and this year, the sales are estimated to go down 1.6%.
As a result, farmers are suffering greatly, as many are forced to shut down their farms due to cheese products going unsold or sold for such low prices, the dairy farms unable to profit. The cheese that is lingering in the sales market is the main reason prices won’t rise, and dairy farmers are now requesting the government buy the cheese to clear the market once again. As seen before, under President Jimmy Carter, this would have many negative consequences. The cheese would have nowhere to go once bought and would most likely be completely wasted. Another concern would be the cost, as the farmers want around 90 million pounds of cheese taken out of their hands. In this case of surplus, options are limited, for cheese is product a that would be hard to distribute to poorer countries, as the Reagan administration did the Carter aftermath of the cheese surplus.
Clearly, the government has shown itself to be unreliable in issues such as surpluses. So, what can the average American do to save these dairy farmers, seeing as the only way to solve this problem is to help decrease the overwhelming cheese supply? While the answer may seem obvious, support for dairy farmers is needed greatly. Buying dairy products may seem like a silly way to solve this issue, but it is important that the damage of the cheese surplus upon these farmers comes to an end. It is also important to note that the smaller, locally owned farms are usually the ones suffering the most from this surplus, more so than bigger companies. By buying cheese or other dairy products from these suffering dairy farmers, the average American citizen can sleep at well at night, knowing they are helping solve this cheesy conundrum. 
This is Ella Connolly’s first contribution to Enter Stage Right. (c) Ella Connolly
