Countries panic-buying food as world food prices surge Global prices for corn and whet rose 50% in July and July, aided by the worst drought in the U.S. since 1956. More than half of all U.S. counties - 1,584 in 32 states -- have been designated primary disaster areas this growing season. There was no panic buying until last week when Mexico, which suffered "tortilla riots" in 2007, began making huge purchases of corn. Now a cascade effect may be taking place, as Iran, Algeria and Jordan are all shopping for grain this week. The situation is going to continue to get worse, according to a BBC interview with Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. When asked whether we would return to the days of WW II when famine and food crises became the norm, he said the following (my transcript): "I hate to say this, but it's already a norm. We have a billion people without food, so it's not doing that well, i'm afraid. In fact, in more likelihood, if we don't do anything about this, it's just going to get worse. It is true that the Green Revolution helped us to keep pace with the demand for a certain period of time. But if you look at the yields now for major crops, they basically have flattened out. Whatever we gained in that period, over the last two-three decades, is basically going to give us just enough food to barely meet demand, and this just not good enough."AP and Reuters and BBC (MP3)