USA

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World
By JOSH GERSTEIN, Staff Reporter of the Sun | April 21, 2008

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing.

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.
Read more here:
http://nysun.com/news/food-rationing-co ... sket-world

Japan

Japan's hunger becomes a dire warning for other nations

MARIKO Watanabe admits she could have chosen a better time to take up baking. This week, when the Tokyo housewife visited her local Ito-Yokado supermarket to buy butter to make a cake, she found the shelves bare.

"I went to another supermarket, and then another, and there was no butter at those either. Everywhere I went there were notices saying Japan has run out of butter. I couldn't believe it — this is the first time in my life I've wanted to try baking cakes and I can't get any butter," said the frustrated cook.

Japan's acute butter shortage, which has confounded bakeries, restaurants and now families across the country, is the latest unforeseen result of the global agricultural commodities crisis.
http://business.theage.com.au/japans-hu ... -27ey.html

India
Is food crisis in India imminent?
22 Apr, 2008, 0207 hrs IST,C S C Sekhar,

The present food situation in the country is a major cause for concern. The continuous price rise in the domestic market has been aggravated by the sharp rise in global food prices due to depleted global stocks. But the larger question is, is the situation irretrievable? Is India facing an imminent food crisis? The answer is no if, and only if, the policymakers take informed policy decisions by keeping a close watch on the developments in the domestic and international markets.

Firstly on the international front, there are already some signs of positive developments. According to the latest FAO Outlook (April, 200, there is a sizeable expansion in area under wheat and a consequent expected increase in production in Europe and the US. As a result, the FOB price of US HRW wheat has already shown a drop of about $100/tonnes in the first week of April 2008 from the level in March 2008.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Edi ... 969416.cms

Welcome in the New World Order