There was also the late freeze that devastated wheat. Things are looking very, very, bad. Another thing occured to me. Beer prices could skyrocket. Demand destruction among the nations working class could result in large numbers of angry sober poor. Beer is the Soma of the masses. Take it away and they might wake up in a bad mood. Beer Subsidies are necessary immediately. I think 35 billion gallons by 2017 would be just about right.

China, China, China.

China is the world's largest wheat producer, often nearly twice that of the nearest country, usually India.

Newer directives have shifted Chinese goals from self sufficiency down to self reliance in the early part of this decade. Goals of 100% down to 85-90%. So they are importing more, in a land where much of the crop remains ungraded, lowering their potential milling results.

Famine and feeding its populuation has historically been the set of brakes on China. With their push for industrialization, and the greater opportunities in city vs rural areas, many are leaving the farm. Coupled with desertification, industrial water demands, climate change, and a relatively slow infusion of technology and new methodology to the farm, you have to wonder if China's old nemisis won't soon return.