Word on the street: USDA forecast overly optimistic

First reported in Stu’s blog the farm gate, the local word on the street is that USDA is too optimistic on their crop production estimate for 2008. Farmers in my locality are wondering ‘where is this corn coming from?’ I know several farmers that drive truck and they also indicate that parts of the midwest look o.k., but not ‘great’. Of course time will tell whether or not USDA is accurate, but locally the word is that they are too optimistic in their yield predictions.  Perhaps USDA believes the technological advances in corn breeding will overcome the weather challenges we’ve seen this year.