Crop report may influence food prices

Copy and paste the HTML below to embed this audio onto your web page. Audio player code: A government report out today may influence the prices consumers pay for food in coming months. Grain prices have played a significant role in rising food costs this year. But those prices have dropped dramatically since last summer. Today's U.S. Agriculture Department estimate of the nations grain harvest could send those prices back up again if it shows a smaller than expected crop. Worthington, Minn. — The crop report could fuel even more gyrations in a year which already has seen unprecedented swings in grain markets. Farmers watched corn and soybeans climb to record levels in the early part of summer. Since then, farmers like Tom Mesner have watched those prices fall almost as fast as they had once gone up. "It's a hard one to... [read full story]