Potential Food Price Explosion?

As I have recently been reading various news reports concerning current world events, both natural and man-made, I get a real sense of foreboding when I consider how food prices and even availability may potentially be affected.

Here is a list of things I have come across just recently:

1. Japan has been importing U.S. beef at record levels recently
   http://www.agrinews.com/beef/exports/to/japan/are/up/dramatically/story-3542.html
2. The Federal Government has been blowing up levees around the Mississippi due to record flooding.  All this has resulted in 1000s of acres of farmland around the Mississippi being rendered unusable this year.  That means reduced crops and thus reduced supply.
   http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/levee-blast-means-lost-936392.html
3. Record dry weather and out of control fires across Europe and the Southern US are wreaking havoc on grain crops.
   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-04/grains-may-suffer-as-dry-weather-persists-according-to-hgca.html
   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-02/parched-kansas-wheat-boosting-prices-for-panera-bread-wheaties.html
   http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7552100.html

All of the above ongoing events coupled with the Federal Reserve's incessant money printing (they call it Quantitative Easing) and Washington DC's profligate spending appears to me to be a recipe for some very serious food price increases if not outright food shortages in the coming months as ever more dollars chase after diminishing goods.

The situation is dire and I doubt very seriously if the average American citizen is even aware of what is going on.  We are too wrapped up in weddings, reality tv, politically expedient military operations, and all the other sycophantic rhetoric being spewed by the main stream media to take notice.  I wonder what it will take for the majority to notice?  $20 milk? 10$ loafs of bread? Empty shelves?  I fear we will soon find out, but only just after it is too late.

 A hungry citizenry is an easily controlled citizenry.  Our so-called political leaders have already said "never let a good crisis go to waste".  A good food crisis would be just the thing to avail themselves of more power grabbing, freedom robbing actions.

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Korea Buys 96,000 acres of Texas

A lowly worker, bereft of much wealth, I find the purchase of a mere 20 acres in Texas to be illusive, at least by means other than enslavement to debt, and much to my consternation, a foreign country sweeps in and consumes nearly 50,000 times as much in a single land grab. And even more diconcerting is the reason behind such an acquisition...

The purchase of 80,000 acres is located in the Eagle Ford Shale section, which is believed to have rich deposits of oil, natural gas and liquids...

Read the full article here

Does this bother anyone?

Does it at least distract from the daily frivolities of Dancing With The Stars, American Idol, and Justin Bieber?

Or, perhaps, all we sheeple have become so apathetic to events unfolding around us, that nothing shy of cataclysmic would penetrate the indifference of our mundane existences.