The mammoth outpouring, vastly larger than 1999's crops, would be accompanied by the second-largest cotton crop on record, 19.2 m bales weighing 480 lbs each, and a moderate 2.26 billion bushels of wheat, the Agriculture Department said. Huge crops would mean a fourth year in a row of low grain and soybean prices. "There's no floor on how low it can go," said private consultant John Schnittker.

Analyst Greg Doud of the firm World Perspectives pointed to the possibility that hot, dry August weather might reduce crop size, especially soybeans in a critical reproductive stage, but large crops seemed certain.