USDA Crop Report

The USDA Crop Report is in. Farmers have been busy, and this year it's expected that the corn harvest will be the second biggest ever and soybeans will come in at the fourth largest ever.

These numbers indicate that prices should go down because the crop size is so large. Lower prices on soybean, corn, and wheat should be music the ears of beleaguered consumers, who have been fighting high commodity and transportation costs for quite some time now.

he department forecast that farmers will harvest 12.3 billion bushels of corn, up more than 570 million bushels from last month's estimate of 11.7 billion. That's down 6 percent from last year's record crop of 13.1 billion bushels, but 17 percent above the 2006 harvest.

Average corn prices this year are expected to drop to $4.90 to $5.90 per bushel, down 60 cents from last month's forecast of $5.50 to $6.50.

This is especially good news for companies that rely on low cost grain to feed chickens. Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) and Pilgrim's Pride (NYSE:PPC) have had tough years due to the high costs of commodities.