Factors affecting the price of a bacon butty

Well done to the government's new chief scientific advisor Professor John Beddington for today pointing out that in the coming decades the evidence currently shows that demand for food will outstrip our ability to supply it (see here). This issue has been increasingly reported on of late (including the article 'Prices give food for thought' in the Bristol Evening Post, March 6) and I have blogged on it before. Rising world population, rapid consumption, problems of current patterns of economic growth, speculation by investors, growing world meat consumption, climate change cutting crop yields, use of land to grow plants for biofuels and bioplastics...instead of food...are all cited as key factors.