Agronomy

With customers scared of E. coli, vegetable vendors in Germany are having trouble selling their produce.

The U.S. government maintains a large stockpile of seeds, to be used if disease threatens the nation’s food supply. But informal networks of farmers are also saving seeds to preserve exotic crop varieties that the government does not. NPR’s Andrea DeLeon (day-lee-OWN) visits one of the country’s biggest seed savers, in central Maine.

Hemp, once a mainstay in Kentucky’s economy, is now outlawed. But now hemp is getting a second look from farmers in Kentucky, who are seeking some alternatives to growing tobacco. John Gregory has our report.

Jane Fritz reports from southern Idaho on the results from use of a polymer commonly called PAM which appears to keep soil from eroding with no known adverse side effects.

Commentator Ruth Page says that, by speeding up evolution among pests which develop genes resistant to the poison, users of pesticides are headed for certain frustration. She recommends the organic alternative: integrated pest management.