Midwest floods might not push up corn prices as much as was feared, according to a report released by the US Department of Agriculture on the damage to crops caused by recent Midwest flooding.

According to the report, US farmers will harvest almost 9% less corn this year than last. Offsetting the flood damage is the more than 1 million additional acres of corn planted in March.

Corn futures, which were about $7.60 last week, dropped to about $7.25 yesterday on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Editor’s Note: Daily Reckoning editor Bill Bonner thinks it’s time to get out of the cattle business – why bother with meat when corn prices are sky-high?

Editors Note: At least 29 countries have limited food exports in recent months, according to The New York Times, pushing already record food prices around the world even higher. Could it be time to consider investing in genetically-modified foods?

When it comes to rice, India, Vietnam, China and 11 other countries have limited or banned exports. Fifteen countries, including Pakistan and Bolivia, have capped or halted wheat exports. More than a dozen have limited corn exports. Kazakhstan has restricted exports of sunflower seeds.

The restrictions are making it harder for impoverished importing countries to afford the food they need. The export limits are forcing some of the most vulnerable people, those who rely on relief agencies, to go hungry.

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Paola Pecora says: “Every crisis is an opportunity. Today, Uruguay exports some of the soy that Argentina doesn’t. And it produces soy that Argentine producers don’t want to produce, thanks to the brutal tax increases recently imposed on them by the their government. Argentines like Uruguay very much, and not only the Argentine tourists…”

Editor’s Note: Corn prices have hit record highs today and commodities expert Kevin Kerr says they are only going higher. High fuel costs are pushing food prices higher. Kevin says the solution is to think locally. Food sources will need to be closer to the final consumers. The old way is simply not sustainable anymore…

Renewed Midwest rains has corn and soybean prices through the roof, reports AP. Corn prices and soybean prices hit all-time highs following more heavy rains in Midwestern states, which left replanted crops once again under water.

Clusterfuck Nation author James Howard Kunstler, writing in The Daily Reckoning Australia, has an apocalyptic view of the future of US agribusiness — based as it is on “cheap oil and cheap natural-gas-based fertizer.” James says it will take a convulsion it will be dragged kicking-and-screaming into a new reality. Meanwhile, Americans are entering a season of food hoarding…