"Coping With Commodity Shock" from Bloomberg Businessweek

"It's one expensive breakfast menu:
Wheat futures up 70 percent since June. Corn at a 24-month peak. Coffee at a 13-year high. And lunch? Forget about burgers. Futures on cattle are at a 24-month high. Tofu and edamame? Soybeans are at their highest level since June 2009.

Extreme price volatility in commodities of all kinds is forcing companies to rethink their strategies - not just for managing the risk to earnings, but for making sure they can get the raw materials they need to meet growing global demand for their products. Moves range from Chinese car and battery maker BYD's recent purchase of 18 percent of a Chinese lithium mine to Mars' recent work with IBM and the U.S. Agriculture Dept. to sequence the cacao genome and, it hopes, breed a hardier cocoa tree."