Another significant element in the rise of global food prices is the devaluation of the USD. The US exports considerable amounts of wheat, and as more money is

Another significant element in the rise of global food prices is the devaluation of the USD. The US exports considerable amounts of wheat, and as more money is printed this inflation increases the cost of US wheat for importing nations. Furthermore, USD inflation and monetary policy affects food economics in ways far beyond that of buying wheat from the US: consider that low interest rates make borrowing money for speculation quite easy and with less risk. In addition, there are a number of factors causing shortages in the production of wheat, such as droughts, bad weather, and diseases that were once though gone but are now resurgent due to the lack of genetic diversity in wheat strains. From June 2010 to January 2011 the cost of wheat increased by 73%, according to the World Bank. The true price of this is not only in the suffering of individual humans and their families, but in the destabilizing of governments and the revolutions seen in the Arab Spring.