Word: cornes
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Farmer Charles Phelps knows he is lucky. His corn crop was days away from disaster when a pair of isolated rainstorms came breezing through Hastings, Iowa, dumping a bit more than 6 in. of rain on his parched fields. "Now it looks like we might have a crop after all," says Phelps. Some 360 miles to the east, Herb Steffen of Cropsey, Ill., laments that he has not seen enough rain "to settle the dust," much less nurse his corn crop though its critical pollination period. "It's heartbreaking to watch crops die in the field," says Steffen's wife...
...spring. Just how much damage the prolonged dry spell has already caused was the subject of a preliminary crop forecast issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA estimated that U.S. grain production in 1988 may be only 212 million metric tons, down 24% from 1987. The corn crop is particularly hard hit -- 26% smaller than last year. The USDA pegged soybean production at 1.65 billion bu., down 13%. Wheat output is expected to decline 13%, to 1.84 billion bu. That drop would be much worse were it not for the winter wheat crop. Planted last fall and almost...
Though discouraging enough, the USDA report may understate the problem. "The commercial surveys will doubtless be bolder, and lower, than those of USDA," says Conrad Leslie, one of the nation's leading private crop forecasters. Leslie predicts a corn crop of 4.4 billion bu., 800 million bu. less than the USDA estimate. A survey by the National Corn Growers Association is even more pessimistic, predicting that this year's corn yields will be down as much as 42% from last year's. The USDA estimates assume normal weather for the rest of the growing season, even though most long-range...
Many of the increases will start with the raw material and pass through to finished products in ways that consumers may not expect. Corn, for example, serves as the basis for everything from cattle feed to margarine, and the crop is severely threatened. If below-average rainfall persists through mid-July, when the plants are pollinated, up to half of the crops could be lost. The sale of stockpiled crops from previous years will mitigate the effects of the drought, but rising corn prices are already putting pressure on cereal makers. General Mills last month boosted the retail prices...
...drought is likely to send meat prices down at first, then higher next year. Many ranchers cannot afford the corn and soybean meal to feed their herds. At the same time, much of the pastureland their cows normally graze has been scorched. As a result, ranchers are slaughtering many more of their cattle than usual. As the meat comes to market, retail prices for beef and pork should decline for the next few months. But by next spring the herds will be reduced, and prices are likely to increase as much as 10% from their current levels. The calf herd...