Food entrepreneurs to the fore

Here's a phenomenon I haven't seen any other comment about, though of course I don't see everything. The NYT had an article last week about how various investment groups, in light of the world food crisis, are going beyond trading in commodities and investing directly in farmland in Africa, Brazil and elsewhere, and other things important to the farm business, like grain elevators, cargo ships and the like. The Times found a couple of people to fret about how it might upset the culture of agriculture, but on balance, as the Register noted in an editorial today, this strikes me as a generally good thing. It seems to be a case of entrepreneurs and investors doing the classic entrepreneurial thing: find a need and fill it. And the result after a few years is almost certain to be more available food and probably a more stable supply, at lower prices