Corn Harvest Forecast is Cut by 3.2%

Posted by Brian Gould Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:14:00 GMT

Keeping the heat under food prices, the Agriculture Department trimmed its one-month-old forecast of the U.S. corn harvest by 3.2% because of a rain-delayed planting season in parts of the Midwest.

The USDA said in a flurry of monthly crop-related reports released Tuesday that it expects U.S. farmers to harvest 11.7 billion bushels of corn this year, based on early June conditions.

Since May, when the department forecast a 12.1-billion-bushel crop, heavy and persistent rain across Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana have prevented many farmers from getting all of their crops into the ground. Most Midwestern farmers try to finish planting by mid-May so their crops reach full maturity before autumn temperatures could kill the plants.