Global food prices are high
Saw a news story a few minutes ago talking about food prices going too high for many to afford. It seems that the price of gasoline and the use of food growing fields to grow plants for bio fuels is making the supply a little tighter. Add to that food distributors holding on to it a bit longer to get prices higher, and what you have is a lot of hungry people around the world, and one group of people overthrowing their government (Haiti) because of it.
Rice now has armed security in some parts of the world. This is crazy. I though it was bad paying extra money for blueberries different times of the year. Could you imagine having to carry guns just to transport rice?