FOOD: Empty Stomachs

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To the stomachs of 135,000,000 U.S. citizens, the Department of Agriculture's monthly crop report last week brought bad news:

>Prospects for the winter wheat crop had declined to 515,000,000 bu. (from the 558,000,000 bu. of a month ago).

>The Southern peach crop was expected to be about 9,000,000 bu. instead of last year's 19,000,000.

>Prospects for the chief truck crops were 10% below last year.

>The Department admitted less hope for record milk production this year.

Reason: April's fitful weather. Pasture grass was off to a slow start. In the vast grain belt between the Rockies and the Mississippi, rainfall was 30% below normal. East of the Mississippi, late frosts had struck the peach trees and vegetable gardens. In New England, farmers were far behind in their planting.

But irreparable damage has thus far been slight. Given more rain and warmer weather, the nation's crops can recover. Given bad weather, they can suffer further. Last week, as if nature had been stirred by the crop report, tardy spring rains fell in torrents over much of the land. But in parts of the Midwest, the torrents were too great: farmers had the new danger of flood to contend with.