Len I disagree mostly with your summation. When you consider that global grain stocks are at their lowest levels since records began being kept in 1960 with a global population under a third of what it is now and a global livestock herd much lower as well, it is no surprise that grain prices should have doubled. In fact in real terms, grain has hardly inflated at all, just it has been compounded to one or two years giving the feel of an 'unjustified' and painful move.
You actually contradict yourself when you say 'the agricultural bubble has to be deflated NOW!!' when in the previous breath you postulate the need to ramp up investment in agricultural capacity in third world nations. Are you going to put money into agricultural investments in Africa Len unless there is high grain prices?
The bubble is NEEDED to encourage MASSIVE INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT CAPACITY because you've all failed to to do for the last 40 years. Society is now paying for this the hard way as with the energy situation it may well be too late to stop this problem spiralling into widescale shortages and the associated unrest that will unfortunately and likely perpetuate.
I don't know many taxi drivers who own agricultural stocks. In fact I don't know many people at all who own agricultural stocks. If you took 4 or 5 posters off this stock forum chat site you'd be forgiven for missing the fact there actually is an investment boom occurring in agriculture.
You can regulate for demand destruction but you cannot regulate for supply creation in any way other than to let the free market do so. Europe in particular has to learn to get the hell out of its farmer's hair and just let them manage their businesses unencumbered with all the political interferance. What countries turn their farms over to set aside and over-regulated their farmers off their lands? Answer: Ones that have forgotten what it is like to run out of food (eg WW2).
Trust me Lenni if ever you needed to inflate a bubble, it is the one related to your stomach! The only bubble I see is outside of agriculture because most of it you can do without, food you cannot eg house prices.
