Officials with the National Corn Growers Association say while they are concerned about the potential impact of weather on this year’s corn crop, growers are confident they can meet the demand.

“Thanks to a very successful 2007, we started this year off with a significant level of beginning stocks that can help see us through a season of reduced production,” said NCGA President Ron Litterer, a grower from Greene, Iowa.

In its latest supply/demand report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture this week lowered expected yields for this year’s corn crop by five bushels per acre and are now projecting the 2008 corn crop to be 11.7 billion bushels, down 390 million from last month. The yield was reduced by 5 bushels an acre due to “slow planting progress, slow crop emergence, and persistent, heavy rainfall across the Corn Belt.”

In its report, the USDA also increased its projection of carry-out from the current crop marketing year to 1.433 billion bushels, based on slightly reduced projections for exports this year. The latest projection for corn to produce ethanol in the current year remained unchanged at four billion bushels.