Jean Claude Gandur, a Swiss commodities trader, made a fortune during the 1990s buying oil concessions in Africa that others did not want or could not hold.

Now a billionaire, he is poised to swim against the tide again with a major expansion into ethanol in Sierra Leone, the West African country still recovering from a decade-long civil war that ended in 2002.

One of his companies, Addax Bi

Charlie Bragg gazes across his lush fields where fat lambs are grazing, his reservoirs filled with water, and issues a sigh of relief. Things are normal this year and that's a bit unusual of late.

His 7,000-acre farm near the Australian town of Cootamundra is testament to the plight facing farmers around the globe: increasingly wilder weather is making food production more unpredictable.

Raghuram Rajan India

Wheat production in India, the second-biggest grower, may advance 6.4 percent to a record for a fourth year after favorable weather and high prices boosted planting, a government official said. Output may climb to 86 million metric tons in the year ending June 30 compared with 80.8 million tons the year earlier, P.K. Basu, Agriculture Secretary, said in an interview on Monday in New Delhi.

Climate change will cause more droughts and reduce food production, the United Nations

FAO forecast of generally tight situation for most crops and commodities over next 18 months. Consumers are unlikely to get relief from high food prices till December 2012, despite a modest increase in global foodgrain production.

High volatility and price swings in food commodities are likely to prevail for the rest of this year and could continue into 2012, UN body Food and Agriculture Organisation today said.

Milan World cereals output is expected to rise to a new record in 2011 due to more planting and improved yields but low stocks are set to keep prices high, the United Nations

The worst droughts in decades are wilting wheat fields from China to the US to the UK, overwhelming Russia

Ciudad Obregon, Mexico The dun wheat field spreading out at Ravi P Singh