Brick-throwing crowds have been reported in Egypt, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Ethiopia. But these are not your usual protestors or hooligans…

Meanwhile, the army has been called out in Pakistan and Thailand to protect against thefts from stores, fields and warehouses. Ministers from around the world are meeting under the aegis of the World Bank and IMF to determine a course of “immediate action.”

What has sparked such energy from bureaucrats better known for their plodding nature? Nothing sets a fire under such folks like a good food riot.

In Mexico City, the masses protest tortilla pricing. In West Bengal, they fight over food rations. Across Africa, we see riots over grain. And in Yemen and Haiti, ill-shod children march in rank and file to call attention to their hunger.

Not Production, but Price

It’s not quite the same as the bad old days, when there simply wasn’t enough food to go around. Green revolutions in India and China took care of mass starvation issues decades ago. And here in the “bread basket to the world,” known as the U.S.A., crop rotation issues have gone by the wayside, too. Massive agrifactories and small farmers alike will plow record acreage this season.

If production isn’t the issue, then what’s got the mobs’ collective knickers in a twist? The answer, pure and simple, is price. For those who can least afford it, food has gotten too expensive. Commodity prices across the board -- and across the planet -- are soaring.

In a press conference last week, World Bank president Robert Zoellick held up a 2 kilo bag of rice (that’s about 4.4 pounds). Zoellick noted that in Bangladesh, the bag of rice he held was worth half a poor family’s daily income. Zoellick further added, “Poor people in Yemen are now spending more than a quarter of their incomes just on bread.”

An Appalling Crime?

So who’s to blame for this bad news? The favorite whipping boy is easy to spot. In a word, it’s ethanol. The trouble, the critics tell us, is a short-sighted U.S. energy policy that throws billions of dollars at biofuels, turning a feedstock (corn) into a crude oil substitute. America’s fertile soils have been hijacked by gas-guzzling SUVs.

The critics do not mince words. India’s Palaniappan Chidambaram complains that “when millions of people are going hungry, it’s a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels.” Turkey’s Mehmet Simsek describes the use of food for biofuel as “appalling.”

James Connaughton of the White House Council on Environmental Quality retorts that biofuel production is only one cause for rising food prices. He points a diverting finger in the direction of rising oil prices and expanding Chinese food demand.

Guess Who’s Really to Blame…

While the breathless media coverage is new, it’s not as if the trend of rising food prices is new. In fact, World Bank studies peg the start of this doubling (in some cases tripling!) of food prices as early as 2001.

When it comes to matters of price, many of us see things in terms of currency value. And when it comes to global commodities, there is one currency that matters more than all others -- the U.S. dollar. So when I read of grand sea changes like the one taking place here and now, I like to refer back to my histories of U.S. exchange rates and minting habits.

Lo and behold, on January 3, 2001, citing “further weakening of sales and production,” “lower consumer confidence,” “high energy prices,” and so on, the US Federal Reserve commenced a dollar destruction campaign that would see the discount rate bottom out at 1% some three years later. The Fed dropped rates to the floor… and left them there. Nearly four years later, the discount rate was a mere 2%.

Throughout this period of super-stimulus, most every Fed statement argued with a straight face that “inflation pressures remain contained.” This was a bald-faced lie, of course, as the price of virtually all dollar-traded goods has been climbing the entire time.

Might as Well Profit

What to do now? Since the Fed shows no sign of wising up, the Chinese remain intent on eating dinner each night, and Congress continues to insist on burning corn in the gas tank, we may as well cash in on a trend that ain’t going away anytime soon.

Hopefully you’re already holding shares of the Powershares DB Agricultural Index (DBA:AMEX), as well as call options against same. DBA took a hit during the recent pause in commodities’ upward march. The position is once again approaching par, however, and ought to ride further price increases to our projected gains.

Now it’s time to add another big international food player to your roster (albeit one that masquerades as a good U.S. corporate citizen): Archer Daniels Midland (ADM: NYSE) may be headquartered in Decatur, Illinois, but its global network of agricultural sourcing, processing, transportation and financial services is spread out over six continents.

For an ag company, this sort of diversity has many advantages. Not only does it put ADM squarely on top of the demand curve, it also lets them accept strong foreign currency in exchange for US product.

On a plain old valuation model, the consensus growth estimate for the current quarter (quarter over quarter) is 35% and 19% for the year. For comparison, ADM’s compadres in the Farm Products industry are only slated to grow some 4% (quarter over quarter) and 11% for the year.

Chart-wise, ADM is on the verge of surpassing its all-time high at $47.33. (In point of fact, it may very well have done so by the time you read this.) A surge to $54.95 over the next four to six weeks is quite probable. Follow-on action over the course of the summer could see that gain double, if not triple.

And if an 18% gain isn’t good enough for you, we’ve found a way to push that gain into triple digits. Check out the latest issue of Taipan Trader to find out how.