This year’s drought-reduced corn crop is expected...

This year’s drought-reduced corn crop is expected to yield 4.55 billion bushels, an increase of 2% from last month’s estimate, the Agriculture Department said. The figure was still 36% below last year’s harvest, reflecting the heat and lack of rain that cut sharply into this summer’s production and still represented a five-year low. Soybean production was forecast at 1.5 billion bushels, another gain of 2% from September’s estimate, but still 22% below 1987. The estimate was based on surveys made Oct. 1.