U.S. banks are going bad as quickly as a bunch of over-ripe peaches in the summer heat. On the heels of the Colonial Bank failure comes another sizable bank failure.

Shares of Rentech (AMEX:RTK) are soaring today as word spreads about the company’s latest deal. Shares have more than doubled in less than two weeks.

I’ve been surprised over the past few weeks by the pace of biofuel development. These aren’t breakthroughs that are likely to produce obvious winners in the next few months, but the time line keeps pulling in. There’s a lot of skepticism about this technology, but there was also skepticism for every major tech development of the last three or four decades.

While the viability of the electric car is still heavily debated, the other attempt to reduce our dependency on foreign oil is making news again. And the news is not good.

Crude oil’s masive one-day climb yesterday resurrected fears over the impact of soaring fuel costs on farming and food prices.

Other factors are at play in the volatile agricultural industry. According to Chris Mayer, “Fertile soil – good dirt – may become more important to land values than oil or minerals in the ground.”

Chris says fertile farmland has been in decline since the 1980s due to urban sprawl and soil erosion. This makes it a lucrative asset. And it makes companies like Cresud (NASDAQ:CRESY), which owns large swathes of farmland in Argentina, a great stock play.

The biggest rap about investing in emerging markets has been that they suffer from out-of-control inflation. The high prices of food and fuel undermined otherwise strong economic progress in emerging nations. On a conservative estimate, food-price rises may reduce the spending power of the urban poor and country people who buy their own food by 20%, according to the Economist.

Corn prices are down 36% from their June peak, but despite the U.S. government’s claims of a bumper corn crop this year, the current dip in corn prices is just a temporary abatement, as higher demand and a potentially smaller-than-estimated total crop are poised to push corn prices higher.

High grain prices aren’t just hurting hog farmers, they’re damaging ethanol producers too.

If prices causes ethanol plants in the Midwest to close, it could flood the market with unused corn, says Tom Dyson. Expect to see a big fall in corn prices in the near future…

Even without ethanol plants closing corn prices are already starting to fall…

Editor’s Note: It seems energy is on the tip of everyone’s tongue again today. If it’s not the debate about where oil prices are heading next, it’s fresh concern over our long-term energy future. Byron King’s energy insider says we cannot lose anymore time in developing a plan for future power supplies. Whether its finding new oil reserves or shifting dependence to alternative sources, it will take decades to realise. Without a clear energy policy now, it will take longer. And by this time, it could be too late…

Editor’s Note: Corn prices have hit record highs today and commodities expert Kevin Kerr says they are only going higher. High fuel costs are pushing food prices higher. Kevin says the solution is to think locally. Food sources will need to be closer to the final consumers. The old way is simply not sustainable anymore…

Renewed Midwest rains has corn and soybean prices through the roof, reports AP. Corn prices and soybean prices hit all-time highs following more heavy rains in Midwestern states, which left replanted crops once again under water.