First food restrictions in the West?

Wal-Mart restricts rice purchases
Rice prices have been hitting record highs The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, is restricting sales of rice at one of its chains - the latest sign of a global shortage of the staple food. Sam's Club, Wal-Mart's cash-and-carry division, says customers can buy a maximum of four bags per visit. The limit applies to jasmine, basmati and long grain white rice.
The international price of rice has risen by 68% this year and Wal-Mart said the restrictions were "due to recent supply and demand trends". There are more than 550 Sam's Club stores in the US. With food prices rising, customers have been buying basic goods in bulk. Wal-Mart said it was not restricting the amounts of flour or oil customers can purchase "at this time".

I wonder, as Climate Change bites into the agricultural calender and seasons get more erratic, if the food source collapses, will the prices start skyrocketing just as petrol prices start to do the same thing? As weather patterns get worse and as peak oil lurks these leaps in price may look childlike to where they can go. Oh and seeing as Climate Change is still of some debate for some on the Right, this story is sobering...

Scientists: Alps largest glacier gone within 20 years
Climate change will see most of the Tasman Glacier in the Southern Alps melt away over the next 20 years, scientists say. "In the past 10 years the glacier has receded a hell of a lot," said glaciologist Dr Martin Brook. "It's just too warm for a glacier to be sustained at such a low altitude - 730 metres above sea level - so it melts rapidly and it is going to disappear altogether". The Tasman Glacier is the largest in the Southern Alps and at 29km was noted as one of the longest in the world's temperate zones. In 1973 there was no lake in front of the Tasman Glacier, while new measurements taken last week indicate the lake at its foot is now 7km long, 2km wide and 245m deep.