We’ve been so caught up watching stocks soar we haven’t paid much attention to one of our favorite asset classes: commodities.

While the mainstream media has been focused on the run-up in equities, one overlooked sector has turned “red hot,” according to Justice Litle in Taipan Daily. Justice is talking about the grain markets – foodstuffs like corn, wheat, soy and sugar.

For more than a decade, European policymakers have spurned genetically modified crops, but these so-called Frankenfoods are beginning to look more and more appetizing in the wake of food shortages and soaring prices.

Only 21% of Europeans are willing to eat genetically engineered food, according to a survey by the European Commission.

Some nations, such as France, have banned the planting of genetically modified crops, while others like Germany have enacted laws that allowed foods to be labeled as “GM free.”

Biotech is no longer just a drugs game.

Some of the most dramatic photographs in the world this week were of downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa. On Friday, an estimated 100 blocks of the city were underwater. Heavy rainfall across the Midwest has produced nine rivers in Iowa above flood stage.

Flooding in the Midwest and fears of crop damage caused corn prices to climb in Chicago for the eighth consecutive day — their biggest gain in 11 weeks. Prices are expected to hit $8 a bushel by next week.

“Corn is in trouble because of the wet spring that has drenched the midwest,” says Justice Litle in Taipan Daily.

Yesterday, the USDA said in a report that American corn output will be down significantly from last year’s estimate.

Ritchie Brothers… Transocean… Schlumberger. We’ve spent a lot of ink in DailyWealth showing you “domino effect” plays on the global commodity boom.

Really, could the Demos & Repubs have nominated two more energy-illiterate candidates?

At a summit in Rome held by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said world food output needs to rise 50% by 2030 in order for the growing population to be fed.

“Soaring prices of grains, dairy and meat have been grabbing global headlines,” says Jennifer Yousfi in Money Morning, “but other commodities have been on the rise as well.

Although it’s tempting to describe sky-high commodities prices as being the latest ‘bubble’ to hit the markets, for commodities such as crude oil and corn, basic supply and demand may be pushing up prices. This from The Wall Street Journal:

Prices, to be sure, are soaring — crude oil fetched $132.19 a barrel in New York on Friday, up 103% from $64.97 a year earlier. Yet crude has posted similarly massive increases a number of times in the past three decades. Most notably, in the spring of 1980, as gasoline lines lengthened, the price of crude oil was 150% above the year-before level.