Agriculture

From the Marketplace mailbox, Kai Ryssdal pulls out some of the letters sent in by listeners. In the selection: comments on calculating the poverty line, food fraud, the financial crisis and the dropping price of oil.

Melamine, the chemical found in tainted milk in China, has begun to show up in other products. Scott Tong reports from Shanghai what it's like to worry about everything you eat and drink.

Agricultural exports have been going strong but American farmers are frustrated because they could be exporting even more, if not for a bottleneck in shipping. Scott Tong reports.

Prices have eased at the gas pump lately, but not in the grocery stores. We're seeing the highest food price inflation in 20 years, and the government's forecasting more increases in 2009. John Dimsdale reports.

Hugh Grant is the head of Monsanto, which creates technology to increase harvests. It's also the world's biggest producer of genetically modified seeds. Grant talks about the controversial topic of technology and food.

With the cost of equipment and land, it seems you have to be a millionaire to buy a farm. But in New Jersey, there seems to be an influx of new farmers. Matt Hackworth reports how they get around the high prices.

Buying locally grown food is good PR for companies. But it turns out that, with rising diesel prices, there's a lot more to gain than a good reputation. Alisa Roth reports.

Today, the Department of Agriculture holds a meeting to discuss a new label for products made from soy or other alternatives to petrochemicals. Amy Scott has more on bio-based products and the expanding market for them.

The Agriculture Department wants to open up conservation land for grazing and hay production, a move environmental groups say could harm wildlife. Renita Jablonski reports.

Organic food producers are feeling the pinch of surging grain prices, and some are predicting an all-out contraction. Sam Eaton hangs out with one dairy farmer who has gone into the red to feed his cows.