In this Sept. 2012 photo, a central Illinois corn farmer harvest his crops in Oreana, Ill. Despite the U.S. enduring its worst drought in decades, a The U.S. Department of Agriculture report to be issued on Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 is expected to show a harvest that's smaller nationally but still surprisingly strong considering the lingering drought. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
In this Sept. 2012 photo, a central Illinois corn farmer harvest his crops in Oreana, Ill. Despite the U.S. enduring its worst drought in decades, a The U.S. Department of Agriculture report to be issued on Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 is expected to show a harvest that's smaller nationally but still surprisingly strong considering the lingering drought. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
The report covers a number of crops, but attention will likely focus on corn production.
The USDA predicted the nation's biggest harvest ever in the spring, when farmers planted 96.4 million acres of corn. But it began scaling back its estimates as the drought spread across two-thirds of the nation.
Analysts said Friday morning that they expect the final report to reflect an even smaller crop than the USDA's December estimate.
Analysts on average expect a final estimate of 10.6 billion bushels, down from December's 10.7 billion bushel figure.
That would still be the eighth largest corn crop in the nation's history.
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