Food Fight
Fast and cheap. That's how we expect our food. But global demand is expected to double by 2050. Scarcity affects every continent. Riots and protests over food prices ripple across much of Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Even in the United States, food prices have soared 40 percent in the past year. Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report and Marketplace Money look at how we got to this point and how the world is coping with the prospect of not enough food.
Food crisis hits middle class here, abroad
It's not just the poor who are suffering from the global food crisis. More middle-class people are having trouble feeding themselves. Sean Cole visits a family in Minnesota. Then, Gretchen Wilson reports from South Africa where home gardening is a necessity. (05/09/2008)
Wealthy nations buying up land for food
Nations such as Saudi Arabia are seeking to ensure their future food supplies by buying up productive agricultural land in other countries. Sam Eaton reports. (05/09/2008)
Secret ingredient? A cheaper substitute
Across the country food manufacturers are struggling to handle rising costs, all the while trying to avoid raising prices. Their choices are changing the way some household food items are being made. Sam Eaton reports. (05/09/2008)
Cutting grocery bills with DIY food
Food prices are getting ridiculous, and experts are predicting they'll continue to rise. What to do? Grow your own food. Stacey Vanek-Smith looks into the trend at community gardens and garden supply stores. (05/09/2008)
Corporate giants get fat on food crisis
In our continuing series, "Food Fight," we look at the profitable side of the global food crisis. Sarah Gardner reports on the big agribusiness firms that are breaking earnings records as everything from grains to soybeans skyrockets. (05/08/2008)
India halts trading to slow food prices
India's government has decided it's had enough with rising food prices. It has suspended futures trading for some key commodites there, including soybean oil, chickpeas and potatoes. Sam Eaton reports. (05/08/2008)
Haitians blame U.S. for food shortages
In Haiti, the price of rice, the country's main staple, has risen nearly 80 percent since September. In the poorest country in the world, that's especially painful. Reed Lindsay reports from Port-au-Prince. (05/08/2008)
Peanut farming and the food crisis
Continuing our series on the worldwide food crisis, today we take a look at farmers who are taking advantage of the increased prices of commodities. Josephine Bennett reports from Georgia on the situation for peanut farmers. (05/08/2008)
Food shortages not going away soon
Agricultural economists have been saying for years that we were due for a global food crisis. Still, for most of us, the current worldwide spike in food commodity prices has come from out of the blue. Today, Kai Ryssdal begins our special series, "Food Fight." (05/07/2008)
China's appetite gobbling up supplies
Bad harvests, bad weather, bio-fuel policy.... They could all conceivably turn around. But over the long term there's one big unknown we can't really control: the growing collective appetite of China's 1.3 billion people. Scott Tong reports. (05/07/2008)
Yes, it's definitely a food 'crisis'
To start our special series called Food Fight, Host Scott Jagow talks to the head of research at Oxfam, an international group working on solutions to poverty, asking him why so many countries are fighting over food. (05/07/2008)
Farmers seeing long-awaited profits
In the midst of a worldwide food shortage crisis, the crops from small farms are earning record prices. Commentator and farmer Richard Oswald says it's a turnabout that's been a long time coming. (05/07/2008)
More needy heading to food banks
Consumers are facing a double whammy. Sticker-shock at the gas pumps and again at the grocery store. Today a Congressional hearing focuses on how rising food costs affect Americans and what can be done. Jeff Tyler has more. (05/01/2008)
What if rice producers stick together?
Some big rice growing countries are taking a page from the global oil markets and considering forming an organization like OPEC for Asia's rice growers. Jeff Tyler reports on whether a food cartel could actually work. (05/01/2008)
Farmers fear a bust trailing the boom
The Department of Agriculture says U.S. farm profits this year are going to be well above average. But commentator and journalist Bill McConnell says farmers know better than to get too excited about any short-term windfall. (05/01/2008)
Rising food prices leave millions hungry
Hundreds of millions of the world's poorest consumers are suffering greatly as the global cost of food has soared. Washington Post reporter Anthony Faioloa met some of them recently in western Africa. He talks with Kai Ryssdal about what he saw. (04/28/2008)
Rice crisis is 'as bad as it has ever been'
The price of rice is up 146% over a year ago. It's become expensive for Americans and dangerously scarce for the world's poorest consumers. Public policy professor Per Pinstrup-Andersen talks with Kai Ryssdal about the scarcity of the world's main grain. (04/23/2008)
Warehouse stores limiting rice sales
Sam's Club, Wal-Mart's warehouse retailer, has joined Costco in limiting sales of some rice to four bags per customer. Sarah Gardner reports on rising food prices and consumer habits. (04/23/2008)
Are biofuels hurting the planet?
Biofuels are getting blamed for a global food crisis and a setback in anti-poverty efforts. Fortune magazine's Allan Sloan examines the wisdom of growing things to make them into ethanol and considers alternatives. (04/21/2008)
Grain elevators hold on as prices go up
Crops such as corn and wheat have jumped 50% or more in price in the past year. Those prices are hitting everyone in the food chain, including a group stuck squarely in the middle -- grain elevator operators. Adriene Hill reports. (04/22/2008)
Global crises call for common efforts
Some of the world's poorest consumers in Africa and Asia have rioted recently over rising prices of wheat and rice. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, author of "Common Wealth," talks with host Kai Ryssdal about how more food riots and skyrocketing energy costs may be on the way. (04/21/2008)
Paying egg-stra
With food prices on the rise, Sarah Gardner asks why it costs twice as much to make an omelette. She discovers cracking the price of eggs is quite the riddle. (04/18/2008)
The 99-Cent Chef
Wallets are being squeezed from all sides, but with an eye for bargains, you can eat healthy and on the cheap. Brendan Newnam dines with L.A.'s 99-Cent Chef. (06/06/2008)
