USDA cuts estimates for corn, soybean harvests

[RandomGuy]

WASHINGTON - The Agriculture Department on Friday reduced its forecast for this year's corn and soybean harvests due to drier weather, potentially leading to higher commodity prices.

U.S. corn production will be 12.1 billion bushels, down from its 12.3 billion estimate last month, the USDA said. The soybean crop is projected to be slightly lower, at 2.93 billion bushels, down from its earlier estimate of 2.97 billion.

While the predicted corn crop will be 8 percent below last year's, it would still be the second largest on record. The soybean crop would be 13 percent higher than last year's and the fourth largest ever.

That represents a major turnaround from earlier this summer, when some analysts feared the Midwestern floods in June had devastated the crops and would make already-expensive agricultural commodities even pricier.

source article

[101A]

Damn Global Warming.

This'll hurt McCain.

[RandomGuy]

???

This simply indicates some inflationary pressures from basic commodities, and will hamstring the Fed's ability to lower interest rates to deal with the pending probable recession.