The mix on food prices (scarcity, affluence, and biofuels)

THE WORLD IN NUMBERS: "The Great Disruption: How scarcity, affluence, and biofuel production are wreaking havoc on food prices," by Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne, Atlantic Monthly, September 2008, p. 28.

Interesting map: 1) "significant biofuel mandates or subsidies" = Old Core and New; 2) "food exports limited or banned in response to escalating prices" = New Core and Gap; and 3) "especially vulnerable to instability due to rising food and fuel prices" = Gap.

I mean, an almost perfect correlation. Really obvious when you glance at it--stunning really.

More than one-third of U.S. corn production (second biggest harvest ever) is to be used for biofuels.