IT should be the best crop I've had in many, many years," gloated Delmar Grotefendt, surveying the fields of ripe golden corn on his 350-acre farm in Marine, Ill. Only last year corn blight, which destroyed 15% of the nation's corn harvest, rotted black much of Grotefendt's planting. Farmers feared that the virulent fungus might ruin up to half the crop this summer. Yet last week, a mood of quiet satisfaction was evident across the U.S. heartland as farmers began bringing in one of the most bountiful harvests in history.
Almost every crop will be larger than last year. The Agriculture Department...
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