Despite earlier speculation that last summer’s drought...

Despite earlier speculation that last summer’s drought would cause food prices to soar, the inflation rate for food will be close to 1987’s rate of 4.1%, the U.S. Agriculture Department predicted. Prices for meat and grains rose sharply while the drought raged during much of the third quarter of 1988, but those prices are likely to level off over the last three months, the department said in a summary of its monthly agricultural outlook report. The estimate cuts projections made when the drought was at its peak that food prices would rise by as much as 5% this year.