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American officials have sharply reduced their expectations for this year's corn and soybean crops. Farmers in the Midwest are struggling with record heat and the worst drought in many years. The United States is the world's largest producer of corn and soybeans. Last Friday the Agriculture Department predicted that corn production would total 10.8 billion bushels this year. That was down seventeen percent from a prediction made just a month ago. And it was down thirteen percent from last year's level. The average yield per hectare could be the lowest in seventeen years. At the same time, the government predicted that soybean production would be twelve percent lower than last year. The price of maize, which Americans call corn, has hit record levels. Corn is a major part of animal feed, so the price of meat, milk and eggs is also expected to climb. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says average food prices worldwide rose six percent in July. The American drought was a big reason. Gawain Kripke is a food price expert with the anti-hunger group Oxfam America. GAWAIN KRIPKE: "Because the U.S. is such a massive food producer and food exporter, the impacts of a drought in the United States are likely to trickle out all around the world." The situation has renewed the fight between food and fuel. About forty percent of the nation's corn crop goes into making ethanol. The production process leaves some of that in a form that can be fed to animals. Still, at least one-fourth of the American corn crop is now made into fuel. | 
