As if we didn't have enough problems:

Food-related protests have been occurring worldwide, and in the U.S. now major discounters are seeing runs on products, particularly rice, as both Sam’s Club, the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. operated discounter, and Costco Wholesale Corp. have seen shelves cleaned out of rice as consumers worry about higher prices.

Oh sweet jesus people, calm the fuck down.  What's happening is people are seeing the news about food riots and freaking out.  They get e-mails from their conspiracy theory nut job friends and realtives who tell them the Fed is run  by the illuminati and the end is night.  So they go out and they horde rice. 

Well what does hording do?  It artifically reduces supply.  What does reducing supply do?  DRIVE UP PRICES YOU DUMBASSES.

So rather than prices creeping up a little bit, and yes, some people around the world, not getting enough rice because of it, you have people hoarding and making things much much worse.  If you clear the shelves of Costco of 20 lbs bags of rice, then Costco has to go buy more rice to restock it's shelves at now inflated prices.  This drives up world demand, and leads to further spiking prices and, food riots, and starvation.  Good job Costco shoppers.  I hope you enjoy eating rice for the next 18,000 years while you hear reports of people in other countries starving to death. 

Oh, and also, this is turning into a global stupidity pandemic, because now with shortages and price spikes, countries that would normally export rice are starting to block the exports (India, Brazil, and Vietnam that I know of).  Well since they are doing that, they end up with an oversupply in the domestic market, and they end up making the global problem much worse.  Good times.

Of course having said all that, 20lbs bags of rice are probably a better investment right now than the stock market  :(