It's very likely we are going to see food crises, and possibly food riots, in some third world countries in the next decade. In fact, there's a good argument that some of the uprisings recently in the Arab world are partly spurred on by the fact that many people are struggling to survive. The relative cost of food in those countries (as a percentage of the typical family budget) is much higher than it is in the USA. I expect to see some marginal countries (esp. in places like Africa) become lawless states run by warlords i.e. more countries like Somalia.

It seems to me that there are a lot of creative things that can be done to boost food production. But I'm not sure the investment $$ are really there to make the major changes necessary.

We'll see.

Pete #2