The global food shortage is already at crisis stage in many countries. Now it seems poised to hit home. And we're not just talking about price hikes. Just as U.S. residents accept the inevitability of one dreaded R-word, recession, another one may loom: rationing.

First, the global outlook: After months of sounding alarms, today U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "the world has consumed more than it has produced" over the last three years and "the problem is big." Ban said today the world must urgently increase food production. The New York Sun reports today:

Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

Yes, the article is speculative. But there is no question times are tougher in the United States lately, with prices of food and fuel (which is needed to transport food) rising rapidly.

Meantime, genetically altered crops suddenly don't face the opposition they did. From the NY Times today:

In Japan and South Korea, some manufacturers for the first time have begun buying genetically engineered corn for use in soft drinks, snacks and other foods. Until now, to avoid consumer backlash, the companies have paid extra to buy conventionally grown corn. But with prices having tripled in two years, it has become too expensive to be so finicky.

True in U.S., too:

"I think it's pretty clear that price and supply concerns have people thinking a little bit differently today," said Steve Mercer, a spokesman for U.S. Wheat Associates, a federally supported cooperative that promotes American wheat abroad.

Worth noting again that potatoes are making a comeback amid all this turmoil. There are many causes to this suddenly acute problem, but the root of it all is the burgeoning population. For more background on all this, see my entry last month: The Axis of Evil Shortages: Food, Water, Fuel.