Food prices are rising faster than ever before and consumers around the world are starting to feel the effects. Demand for corn due to ethanol has eaten up much of the supply, sending prices much higher. It has also decreased the percentage of the fields dedicated to other plants such as soy beans and wheat. This has led to a similar rise in the price of other foods. Now, farmers are looking to raise their soy bean crops in order to alleviate issues abroad, but it could raise the price of meats and other foods domestically.

From The New York Times:
Faced with strong worldwide food demand and the accompanying higher prices, American farmers are beginning to respond to the signals of the market. In a new government report, farmers said they would make significant cuts in corn acreage this year in favor of soybeans. If they carry through with their intentions, the resulting additional soybean oil could help alleviate global shortages of cooking oil that have led to sharply higher prices, hitting poor countries hard. But a smaller corn harvest would most likely raise prices for that crop, which could also increase the prices Americans pay for meat. Most corn is used as animal feed. Higher corn prices may also compound the difficulties of companies that use corn to produce ethanol as a motor fuel. Despite government mandates for the use of ethanol, those companies are struggling. They expanded so rapidly in recent years that an oversupply of ethanol depressed prices, even as the cost of their main feedstock — corn — was rising.