EU food politics must stop if food supply runs short again

There are some thing you can be sure of — such as death, taxes and weather.

In terms of the weather, you can be sure it will average out in the medium term or longer term — probably the thought that is keeping many farmers in Ireland this summer from giving up and turning their backs on the business.

It is a basic rule also for the speculators whose short and long trades total up to the equivalent of 46 times the world’s wheat production every year on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.