While the United States is relatively insulated from food price increases, for people in developing countries, high prices are a catastrophe.

Aerial view of drought-affected farmland near Strasburg, Colorado, on July 21, 2012. USDA/Lance Cheung/Flickr

Twice in the last five years, rising food prices triggered global waves of social unrest. With drought baking U.S. crops, another round of soaring, society-straining price spikes may happen in coming months.

According to researchers from the New England Complex Systems Institute, commodity speculation — investors betting on food prices — will amplify the drought’s market signals, creating a new food bubble and the crises that follow.

Read the full article at Wired.