USDA - Drought To Push US Grain Prices To Highest In 10 Yrs - Reuters

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON - Drought in the Great Plains will limit the US wheat crop to 1.806 billion bushels this year, the government forecast on Wednesday, but the farm-gate price for wheat and corn will be the highest in a decade.

With the wheat crop down by 299 million bushels from last year, tighter supplies will push the average price to US$4 a bushel, the highest since 1996/97. Voracious demand for corn, including the booming ethanol industry, will mean an average price of US$2.45 a bushel, also the highest in 10 years.

But soybean prices were projected to average US$5.50 a bushel, down 10 cents from last month's estimate. USDA said "forward pricing opportunities for new-crop soybeans have remained at substantially lower price levels than in the two previous marketing years."

The US wheat crop would be the smallest in four years while this year's soybean crop, projected for 3.01 billion bushels, would be the third largest on record. At 10.74 billion bushels, the corn crop would be the fourth-largest ever.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37229/story.htm

[havocmom]

1. .

[pberq]

2. Al Gore said in "Inconvenient Truth" that global warming

causes increased droughts in some areas and increased precipitation in others.

[Sherman A1]

3. Combine that

with the cost of fuel for harvest and transportation and it's just getting worse.

[seasat]

4. Great

The gas prices weren't bad enough, now we've got to pay more for bread. If you look for me, I'll be helping set up Bushville in a local park.