• jabrd [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    iirc cheese is the only food product the US stores. No grains or anything like that, just cheese. Really just shows that the “strategic reserves” are just there to subsidize the farmers rather than actually plan for an emergency

    • xXthrowawayXx [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      There are others but they’re not as significant as the cheese reserve once was.

      Part of that is cost of administration. Cheese was developed to store dairy many thousands of years ago. It’s inherently relatively stable so to store it all you need is a cave and a soldier to man the entrance. Grain has a shelf life and needs to be periodically rotated and inspected to keep mold and bacteria from spreading, so you need that soldier and a bunch of people who know how to prevent bulk loss.

    • Alaskaball [comrade/them]A
      ·
      2 years ago

      Okay this one made me audibly say "no fucking way this country is actually doomed"

      Anything that actually disrupts the logistics chain will make the worst myths of the Soviet famines look like little whoopssies where you forgot to buy a fresh bag of flour during your last grocery run

      • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        i just can't believe the us government doesn't have a pistachio reserve to maximize california's water consumption

      • Dingus_Khan [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Iirc we used to have an actual grain reserve, but in the last decade or two it was liquidated and instead we have a fund set aside for purchasing grain in a similar emergency. So we financialized the grain reserve

        • Alaskaball [comrade/them]A
          ·
          2 years ago

          As you do to prove your business savviness. And nothing to do with the safety and security of your people.

    • Sen_Jen [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Seriously? They don't stockpile like wheat or corn? I know they have a fuckload of corn, why aren't they storing it? Cheese is so far down the priority list of what food you should stockpile

      • CTHlurker [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I think there is a reserve of wheat and corn, but it's puny compared to the enormous amounts produced every year. However as another commenter here explained, CHeese is incredibly easy to store, and functions as a way to store diary anyway, so it doesn't really take much to create a strategic reserve. Much harder to do that with corn and wheat, which goes bad and grows mold if left unanttended.

        • alcoholicorn [comrade/them, doe/deer]
          ·
          2 years ago

          We can preserve wheat as beer. Meat, veggies, and eggs can be canned and/or cured.

          Gov't reserve of beer, century eggs, olives, and prosciutto, for both economic and mental health emergencies.

          • NPa [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            replace all cops with balding, slightly overweight guys called Giuseppe who feed you anti-pasti until you stop having an emergency. :AyyyyyOC:

      • TrudeauCastroson [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Seriously? They don’t stockpile like wheat or corn? I know they have a fuckload of corn, why aren’t they storing it? Cheese is so far down the priority list of what food you should stockpile

        most of the subsidized USA corn isn't actually the kind you can grill and eat.

        It's the kind used for animal feed that humans can't actually directly eat. I think that it's the same one used in high-fructose corn syrup, but idk if it can be used for cornmeal or anything like that.