The Chinese have reached or exceeded the limits of their Agricultural system

The United States produces 1,481 kilograms per year of agricultural products for each American, while the Chinese food supply averages only 785 kilograms per year per capita (mostly grains in both cases). Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute has suggested that by all available measurements the Chinese have reached or exceeded the limits of their agricultural system. The Chinese reliance on large inputs of fossil fuel-based fertilizers to compensate for shortages of arable land and severely eroded soils, combined with their limited fresh water supply, suggests severe problems looming ahead. Even now, China imports large amounts of grain from the United States (which also relies heavily on fossil inputs for agriculture) and other nations, and is expected to increase imports of grains in the near future.

end quote from:
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/554

This I find troubling because of Russia's Drought and fires and having decided not to ship grains anywhere because of this outside of their country. On top of this 80% of the U.S. tillable land has been affected by the drought in the last 12 months greatly compromising our normal breadbasket of crops to the U.S. and world. Though the present shortages of food basically started with the 2006 extreme drought in Australia and the reduction of grains by this from 130% of worlds needs down to about 100% of world's needs this created a worldwide panic which I believe now led to the present World Economic crisis since panic tends to start with the poor and then move up the line to the rich who then begin to make bad decisions because of panics like this. Once again, the droughts and fires in Russia and the U.S. in addition to other droughts and fires and floods throughout the world could bring world grains (which are 80% of the food consumed worldwide) to a very difficult place in the next 12 to 24 months worldwide. I haven't found figures yet about how much we are growing worldwide in relation to actual worldwide needs. But likely it might be time for everyone who has water and soil to start their own Victory Organic Garden worldwide who can just like Americans did during World War II to have enough food to survive while all our soldiers were gone and couldn't farm the fields as a result.

Begin further quote regarding soils worldwide:

The decline of per-capita cropland is aggravated by the degradation of soils. Throughout the world, current erosion rates are higher than ever. According to a study for the International Food Policy Research Institute, each year an estimated 10 million hectares of cropland worldwide are abandoned due to soil erosion and diminished production caused by erosion. Another 10 million hectares are critically damaged each year by salinization, in large part as a result of irrigation and/or improper drainage methods. This loss amounts to more than 1.3 percent of total cropland annually. Most of the additional cropland needed to replace yearly losses comes from the world's forest areas. The urgent need to increase crop production accounts for more than 60 percent of the massive deforestation now occurring worldwide.
Erosion losses are critical because topsoil renewal is extremely slow. It takes about 500 years for 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) of topsoil to reform under agricultural conditions. Soil erosion rates on cropland range from about 10 metric tons per hectare per year (t/ha/yr) in the United States to 40 t/ha/yr in China. During the past 30 years, the rate of soil loss throughout Africa has increased 20-fold. A 1996 study in India found that as much as 5,600 t/ha/yr of soil were lost under some arid and windy conditions.

end of second quote from:
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/554

Since 1.3 percent of tillable cropland is lost every year to erosion and the rate of world population increase is about the same, we soon will be at a cross over point (and may already be there) where 1.3 percent or more people less will be able to be fed every year. So, instead of a 1.3 percent increase in population it is likely this year or very soon it will become a 1.3 or more percent decrease in world populations because of starvation. It is possible that the correlation cannot be perfect but the general trend is still there and likely within 5 to 10 years we will see it manifest because of tillable soil loss worldwide.