Speculating on Drought

We constantly speculate on the misfortune of others. When people are dying in Libya or Bahrain, we speculate on the price of oil. When workers are laid off in China we speculate on toys and iPods. When they riot in Greece we speculate on the euro.

Well, now our people are suffering. A historic drought has hit Midwestern farmers hard, as the Des Moines Register reports.

This is a global phenomenon that's pushing up prices in India, as Reuters reports, and causing violent strikes in Indonesia, according to Bernama.

Traders are expecting another reduction in crop estimates this week (see this Reuters story) -- maybe not as bad as in past weeks, but bad enough. And if you're expecting supply help from Russia, don't. The news, as the Examiner notes, is just as bad in their grain belts as in ours.

Care to speculate? All this bad news could do wonders for your portfolio.

The game is already on. Fertilizer prices are rising, as are stocks in fertilizer companies like Potash(POT) and Agrium(AGU) . The two commodities are closely linked, according to the Toronto Globe & Mail.

On the other hand, companies in the business of animal protein are sells, like Smithfield Foods(SFD) and Hormel(HRL) . You might expect less selling pressure on Tyson Foods(TSN) , because chicken takes less grain to produce than pork or beef. But no luck, Tyson bought pork producer IBP a decade ago.

Here are two other ways to play this:

Buy McDonald's(MCD) . The prices paid by McDonald's will rise significantly, but so will the prices consumers pay.