Somewhere along the road, America forgot how to make things. Finance became our national product. But things are about to change, says Chris Mayer. As the global banking system cracks, investors will return to the simple, tangible things that we need. And this will create some stunning profit opportunities for those who move quickly.

Captial and Crisis editor Chris Mayer says a new plot line is unfolding in the agriculture boom.

“It begins with the fact that there are fewer and fewer options these days for importers looking for large quantities of high-quality grains. But it speaks more to a deeper issue: an emerging shortage in fertile soil.” In a nutshell: we’re running out of good dirt.

This means that farmland is becoming a strategic asset… and one that is likely rise in value as the crisis in fertile soil plays out.

Crude oil prices are nudging $100 a barrel today. That’s a long way down from oil’s summer high of $147 a barrel.

“It has been a brutal couple of months for commodities investors,” says Dan Amoss in Rude Awakening.

But it’s the type of wild swing that opens up a great profit play for contrarian investors. Whereas prices this summer overshot fundamentals, prices now look like they may overshoot to the downside.

But commodities will take off, says Dan, when the feds cut rates again…

Soaring food prices are turning Russia’s former Soviet farming collectives into modern capitalist havens, says Irwin Greenstein, writing for Contrarian Profits.

One company called Black Earth Farming (STO:BEFSDB) is leading the charge into millions of acres of prime Russian farmland left fallow after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Black Earth Farming is part of a movement by hedge funds, portfolio managers and Russian insiders to capitalize on the worldwide boom in food. This is a great long-term opportunity for foreign-equity investors.

The oil-rich Persian Gulf states are making a headlong rush for farmland, says emerging markets expert Irwin Greenstein.

Most of these countries heavily rely on food imports at a time when global food prices surged 57% between Aprils 2007 to 2008, according to the United Nations.

With food riots breaking out in impoverished countries, as well as rationing in industrialized nations such as the U.S., the Persian Gulf states have made food availability a high priority.

It’s a difficult time for commodities bulls. Crude oil is off more than 20% from its July peak. Gold is going for about $830 an ounce, way off its Spring highs. And the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index is down 19% from its June high.

Energy expert Byron King says investors shouldn’t panic over the drop in prices. For a start, August is a notoriously poor month for commodities. It tends to be a month of net selling.

Despite some demand issues caused by the global slowdown, Byron says commodities are in a short-term correction. And that means plenty of great bargains on offer…

The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index shows commodities jumped 29% in the first six months of this year - the best first half for more than 30 years.

But there is much talk now of a “commodities bear market” and the popping of the so-called “commodities bubble” as prices pull back from their highs.

Jim Rogers, however, remains a commodities bull. “This bull market is not magic,” says Jim, writing in Whiskey and Gunpowder. “It’s not some crazy ‘cycle theory’ I have. It does not fall out of the sky. It’s supply and demand. It’s simple stuff.”

Commodities have been tumbling for more than one month. Energy, metals and agricultural products have dropped by double-digit percentages. This means there are potential technical rebounds on their way and opportunities to take profit for more or less short-term corrections, says Gabriel Andre in The Daily Reckoning Australia. Corn may be one of those opportunities.

The bear market in commodities may last for six to nine months before prices rebound in 2Q of next year, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report is just the latest in a series of Big Media stories on the death of the six-year commodities bull run, aka “the commodities bubble.”

Eric Roseman in The Sovereign Society says the mainstream press have got it wrong on commodities. What we are seeing is a correction in prices, not a trend reversal. And it’s creating the best entry point for new investors in more than three years. 

There has been a lot of talk lately about food stocks. Spam-maker Hormel (NYSE:HRL) and egg producer Cal-Maine (CALM) are two downturn picks we’ve published in recent days. Even in a recession, the logic goes, people still have to eat.

Today, The Sovereign Society’s Investment Director, Eric Roseman, says France’s Groupe Danone (EPA:BN) is another excellent way to play the downturn.

The world’s largest fresh dairy company posted strong earnings last week. And it is set to benefit from a correction in commodity prices.