"Load Up The Pantry...

        This is not a drill"

     -  Wall Street Journal
         Bret Arends

The New York Sun reports  
April 21, 2208:

"Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks."

In Japan there is serious concern that due to food shortages in commodities such as butter, they may have to permanently adjust their diets and cut back on some items. Food riots are occuring in many developing countries.

Reports from Australia state,

"A 130% rise in the global cost of wheat in the past year, caused partly by surging demand from China and India and a huge injection of speculative funds into wheat futures, has forced the Government to hit flour millers with three rounds of stiff mark-ups. The latest — a 30% increase this month — has given rise to speculation that Japan, which relies on imports for 90% of its annual wheat consumption, is no longer on the brink of a food crisis, but has fallen off the cliff."