Grocery Prices, World Hunger to Skyrocket; A World With No Tomatoes?

While many Congresspeople continue to insist that climate change is pseudo-science, one of the leading experts on agricultural commodities says it's a "fact" and likely to "cause massive disruptions" in food supplies around the world, pushing prices much higher on the exchanges and in the grocery stores. Sunny Verghese, the chief executive of Olam, one of the world's biggest suppliers of rice and cotton, said that corn prices would likely hit a record price, causing inflation and hunger. But the worst news could hit Washington and the rest of the country where they'll really feel it: right in the BLT.

More on the tomatoes later. First, Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, said prices of wheat would be higher, too, and as all these changes occur, "hoarding becomes widespread." Throwing another perspective into the fray was World Bank president Robert Zoellick, who said that food prices rose 15% between October and January; dire in the face of the poor's spending. Half of the poverty-stricken family's income goes to food, even in developed countries.