America has too much cheese — 3 extra pounds for each man, woman, and child

(Image credit: Jerry Lampen/AFP/Getty Images)

published 17 May 2016

Thanks to a confluence of ramped-up dairy production, the strong U.S. dollar, and decreasing global demand, America is experiencing a glut of cheese so big it works out to three extra pounds for each person in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reports. There is actually an excess supply of many agricultural commodities, including beef, poultry, pork, corn, and wheat, but the amount of cheese being warehoused in cold storage to wait out the tidal wave of dairy is at a record high.

The cheese glut started with dairy farmers, who expanded production when prices for milk and cheese were high a few years ago. This year, they are expected to produce a record 212.4 billion pounds of milk, and since cheese stores better than milk, they are funneling much of the excess to cheese makers, who now have a record 1.19 billion pounds of cheese in commercial cold storage. There's no easy fix for farmers. Prices are so low no dairies are making money, Michigan dairy owner Carla Wardin tells The Wall Street Journal. Still, for dairy farmers, "you do the exact same thing ... You milk more cows."

This is good news for the cold storage industry, and for cheese lovers. Retail cheese prices are already down 4.3 percent from a year earlier, and they fell to a six-year low of $1.27 a pound at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange last week, The Journal reports. Americans typically eat 36 pounds of cheese a year, but "someone is going to eat all of this meat and dairy," said USDA livestock analyst Shayle Shagam. "How much room do you have in your stomach?" You can read more about the cheese glut at The Wall Street Journal.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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