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These days you hear a lot about the world financial crisis. But there’s another world crisis under way — and it’s hurting a lot more people.

How did this happen? The answer is a combination of long-term trends, bad luck — and bad policy.

meat-eating Chinese

it takes about 700 calories’ worth of animal feed to produce a 100-calorie piece of beef

price of oil

energy costs have become a major factor driving up agricultural costs.

bad weather in key growing areas. In particular, Australia, normally the world’s second-largest wheat exporter, has been suffering from an epic drought.

Where the effects of bad policy are clearest, however, is in the rise of demon ethanol and other biofuels.

We also need a pushback against biofuels, which turn out to have been a terrible mistake.

But it’s not clear how much can be done. Cheap food, like cheap oil, may be a thing of the past.