Help power Marketplace this winter when you support the show today. Donate Now!

Why chicken over beef? Food fads come and go with price, habits and ... TikTok

Sep 5, 2023
Social media trends can inspire people to try out new ingredients. But it’s not like the food industry can immediately respond to every new protein craze.
Tyson Foods is closing some processing plants, in part because the company overestimated Americans’ appetite for chicken.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Hog farmers brace for "tumultuous" time amid rebounding pork demand

“It's a pretty tumultuous time,” said Brian Duncan, vice president of the Illinois Farm Bureau. “We're trying to hang on to some profits.”
U.S. hog farmers said they’re competing with a recovering Chinese hog industry while also handling regional droughts affecting feed production and meatpacking plant slowdowns.
Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

Why pork prices are driving Chinese inflation

Oct 15, 2019
African swine fever has devastated the pig population in the country, where pork is a staple. It's not just food prices that are going up.
Carsten Koall/Getty Images

China's scramble for global pork supplies could mean price hikes for Americans

Oct 10, 2019
The country has lost more than half of its pig heard to African swine fever, according to some estimates.
Smithfield Foods, a Chinese-owned company, is warning of a pork shortage. Smithfield owns the Farmland brand, shown above at a supermarket in Los Angeles in 2013.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Why China wants to stock more than 200,000 tons of pork

May 30, 2019
Some countries stockpile grain and petroleum. China has both, plus a national pork reserve.
A local meat market in Shanghai is dominated by pork stands. Pork is a staple in the Chinese diet and accounts for 70% of all meat consumed in China.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Can the government offset the costs of its trade fight?

Jul 25, 2018
The Department of Agriculture announced a $12 billion aid package on Tuesday for farmers impacted by U.S. trade disputes. The money would go to pork, soybean and dairy farmers among others who have been slapped with retaliatory tariffs in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign goods. But how much can the government do […]
Hank Keizer selects cattle to bring into the milk barn on his farm June 29, 2005 near Delavan, Wisconsin. The $12 billion aid package would go to dairy, soybean and pork farmers.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

In a U.S.-China trade dispute, Iowa farmers may be the bargaining chips

Apr 5, 2018
With the announced Chinese tariffs on U.S. exports, things are looking pretty tough if you’re a farmer, and more so if you’re a farmer in Iowa. Five of the state’s central agriculture products — soybeans, corn, ethanol, beef and pork — would be hit if the tariffs go into effect. And that’s a big deal […]

China's threatened tariffs on pork are hurting American hog farmers

Apr 4, 2018
"I think the psychology has negatively impacted the hog market," one Illinois farmer says.
Hog farmers like to “market everything but the squeal,” Bran Duncan says.
Carsten Koall/Getty Images)