USDA Forecasts More
Corn Grower Woes

WASHINGTON —(AP)— The stockpiles of grain that have kept commodity prices depressed for two years are growing, the government said last Friday. That could mean another tough year for growers in 2000 and keep the cost of federal farm programs soaring.

This year's bumper crops will push the corn surplus to nearly two billion bushels — more than 20 percent of the nation's total production — and boost wheat stocks to 987 million bushels, the Agriculture Department said.

That's expected to knock 10 cents off the price farmers get per bushel of corn, dropping it to $1.85, and a nickel off the price of wheat.

``Overall, we've still got big production in the United States, big production around the world, and you're going to have to see some change in weather or in the farm program to reduce supply,'' said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities Inc. of West Des Moines, Iowa.

Next week, the Senate is expected to send President Clinton an $8.7 billion package of emergency farm-income assistance and disaster relief, the second multibillion-dollar bailout package in as many years.

With the latest aid package, direct government payments to farmers are expected to reach $21 billion this year, eclipsing the old record of $17 billion in 1987.