President Reagan has signed a $3.9 billion drought relief bill on Thursday. The annual Agriculture Department survey released hours later predicted total crop production will be 88% of the last year average, with grain production 31% smaller than the 1987 harvest. Corn, the largest and most important American crop, will decline 34% from 1977. The soybean harvest is expected to be down 23%, with all wheat production dropping 13%. The department had already predicted that food prices would increase about 4% and believes this drought will add about 1 to 2% more. Food stockpiles, however, remain high and 50 million farm acres are being kept out of production.
President Reagan has signed a $3.9 billion drought relief bill on Thursday. The annual Agriculture Department survey released hours later predicted total crop production will be 88% of the 1977 average, with grain production 31% smaller than the 1987 harvest. Corn, the largest and most important American crop, will decline 34% from last year. The soybean harvest is expected to be down 23%, with all wheat production dropping 13%. The department had already predicted that food prices would increase about 4% and believes this drought will add about 1 to 2% more. Food stockpiles, however, remain high and 50 million farm acres are being kept out of production.