The nation’s bulging rice surplus has shrunk...

The nation’s bulging rice surplus has shrunk so much that Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng is being pressed to let farmers boost production to avoid a shortage next year. A combination of drought in foreign rice producing countries and an aggressive export-marketing subsidy program enacted in 1985 farm legislation put tens of thousands of tons of government-owned surplus rice on the world market at competitive prices. The high cost of the program in terms of income payments to rice growers is partly offset by the increased government sales and reduced storage costs.