Giant Crops Could Deflate Prices

U.S. farmers will reap the largest corn crop ever and the second-largest soybean and cotton crops, the government said, a harvest so large it would deflate market prices and drive up farm subsidy spending.

In its first estimate for the fall harvest, the Agriculture Department pegged the corn crop at 10.923 billion bushels, 8% larger than the record set last year, soybeans at 2.877 billion bushels, up 19% from 2003, and cotton at 20.18 million bales weighing 480 pounds each, up 11%.