A Clear and Present Danger: The Imminent Cheese Gap

First, it was the mineshaft gap. Now, it’s the Cheese Gap. And a dairy trade war is the perfect way to approach the impending threat.


Source: WaPo.

Per capita cheese stockpiled was 1.85 pounds in 1993. By 2018, it had only risen to 4.24 pounds per person. Now, the European Union has about 1.38 pounds of skim milk product (not cheese) per capita stockpiled as of May 2018 (350,523 tonnes, population at 508 million). That means we do not have overwhelming dominance in milk product. And who knows what the Chinese have stockpiled. Fortunately, so far, the Trump Administration has done a “really special” job reducing the price at which the government could augment its cheese stockpile, should it choose to do so.


Source: ino.com, accessed 7/3.

In addition, these low prices should serve to effectively cull the excess number of milk producing farms, as noted in this article. Speaking of the Mexican tariffs:

Hardin, who has been in the industry for decades, says the price that farmers receive for their milk could sink even lower than it is now — putting many farms already in trouble out of business.

“We are looking at a short-term washout of 20 percent of Wisconsin dairy farm milk income on a monthly basis. That’s how dangerous this mess is,” Hardin said.

So, thank you Trump!

19 thoughts on “A Clear and Present Danger: The Imminent Cheese Gap”

  1. pgl

    “About 90 percent of Wisconsin milk is turned into cheese, and all but about 10 percent of that cheese is sold outside the state’s borders.”

    OK – low cheese prices are bad news for these Wisconsin farmers but I made a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. So yep – thank you Mr. Trump!

    1. Steven Kopits

      April dairy exports at all time high.

      file:///C:/Users/Steven%20Kopits/Downloads/GDMOApril%20(2).pdf

  3. Moses Herzog

    You know what I think when I read stuff like this?? How long is it going to take for “MSM” TV media to catch up on this?? I mean it seems like anymore just on regular news items they’re about 72 hours behind the internet. For something like this that takes some deeper insight and visualization into the future—what, maybe they start talking about this stuff Menzie and the dairy farmers can see clear as day now when??—>>Mid-August?? And then your idiots like CoRev and “rtd” that couldn’t find the entrance to their own derrière if you handed them a large print road map?? The CoRevs, “rtd”s, Bruce Halls, and Ed Hansons figure out this stuff is real around December??

    The good news is, in the meantime, until they can decipher all these commodities price downturns and how it effects the US farmer—the CoRevs, Bruce Halls, Ed Hansons, “Princeton” Kopits, and “rtd”s can entertain themselves with their own personal theme song:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nauLgZISozs

  4. 2slugbaits

    Menzie So are you suggesting that Trump should cut the cheese gap as part of his proposed FART Act?

    Moses Herzog: I think you’re looking for “Buy for Me the Rain” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

    1. Moses Herzog

      I’m just MILD—ly upset you beat me to the first cheese joke. I say, I’m just MILD–ly upset you beat me to the first cheese joke. Forgiving you this time because there’s certain to be more cheese posts in the future. I’m feeling so BLUE that you beat me to the first cheese joke that I Gouda get away for awhile, to my COTTAGE in Monterey. Trump assures me there are no Kurds living there.

      Some of my closest Chinese friends (who were/are among the best of all my human friends) told me they can perceive I much prefer yellow cheese to white cheese, but I always pleaded the fifth. Only my nachos know the truth of where I like to dip…..

    2. Moses Herzog

      Hahahaha!!!! Did you live in Iowa at one point in your life??? You nailed it. That is the song I was hunting but couldn’t remember. That song is so stuck in my brain. I think my Dad must have watched that show when I was little or something. Actually not a bad song, but not sure it’s worthy of permanent residence in my cranium, and it’s gone way past “squatting rights” in my brain at this point.

  5. Moses Herzog

    Here’s another song has some similar traits, that I have to admit got to me pretty deep in my teen years. I don’t advise listening to it more than once or it will camp out in your head for sure. This thing will take residence in your brain worse than a hippy bum at an Occupy Movement protest in a park with notta single porta-potty.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3vnmV6pPKI

    it’s a nice little song for people that lost their center of balance er something.

  6. Moses Herzog

    Here’s one for all the children in an “ICE” cage, stolen from their parents, who have more of a concept of what the American Dream is than the Orange Excrement inhabiting the White House EVER will. Or maybe it’s my personal soliloquy to Ocasio-Cortez?? All readers here say I have no chance with her?? OK, the former then.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Woin2TBl4Pc

  7. Ed Hanson

    Menzie

    Your first figure shows a classic excess production curve created by subsidies, in this case the dairy subsidy. The curve as yet shows no tariff implication.

    Your second figure shows a run up in price from April through June, but no label. Can you please label the cause?

  8. Moses Herzog

    An update on Timmy Geithner, the man who told us the federal government didn’t have the money for HARP, and the federal government couldn’t allow judicially arranged mortgage cram-downs for those who lost their jobs because of banks playing with credit default swaps, but couldn’t ask the TBTF banks to take haircuts. All of the AIG counterparties got a lifetime’s worth of Christmas gifts from big bank cuck Timmy Geithner
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/a-way-of-monetizing-poor-people-how-private-equity-firms-make-money-offering-loans-to-cash-strapped-americans/2018/07/01/5f7e2670-5dee-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html

    Anyone remember all the discussion of “revolving doors” and the Treasury Dept, SEC, etc?? That’s not a bad job there for Mr Geithner, is it?? I think TBTF banks got American taxpayers’ and commercial bank small individual depositors’ milkshake, and little Timmy Geithner handed TBTF banks the straw that reaches acrooooooooooooooooooooss the room………..
    https://youtu.be/dOEYT0wZFNg?t=1m30s

  9. Julian Silk

    Dear Menzie,

    Well, they finally did something right. Is it too late to say “Let them eat Brie”?

    J.

  10. randomworker

    Scored a bunch of $2 and $3 off Darigold cheese and dairy products coupons. Brings all manner od cheeses into the $1 a pound range. Theres only so much cheese a person can eat.

    Got an 8 pack of Dannon yogurt for $1. Well, two of them actually. Online coupon at QFC (Kroger). No longer available.

    BOGO pint sale at Rite Aid coupled with a BOGO coupon made for free ice cream for the 4th.

    Pork ribs at QFC were $1.77/lb with loyalty card. Lean and meaty. Saturday special.

    These gluts are only temporary but my guess is it results in a lot of farms going out of business.

Comments are closed.