Then there is climate change. Harvests have been seriously disrupted by freak weather, including prolonged droughts in Australia and southern Africa, floods in West Africa, and this past winter's deep frost in China and record-breaking warmth in northern Europe. [actually the whole article is good]

Chongqing and Sichuan [provinces] have reported the worst drought conditions in 50 years with 2.5 million hectares of crops "affected" in those areas, Xinhua said without specifying which crops were damaged.