AGRICULTURE: "Low milk prices dry up farmers' income: Demand slows with the global economy," by Sue Kirchhoff, USA Today, 25 March 2009.

The gist:

"Up until recently, the U.S. dairy industry was fairly isolated. It isn't anymore," says Roger Hoskin, a dairy analyst at the U.S. Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service.

"Call it globalization . . . When the export market is strong, they do well; when the export market is weak, domestic use is not enough," Hoskin says.