MINNEAPOLIS — For many farmers and food producers, the deluge that swept across Iowa farm fields just two months ago has faded from memory like dust washed away by a hard summer rain.

Indeed, thanks to near-ideal weather conditions in the Midwest, farmers are on pace to produce the second-largest corn crop and fourth-largest soybean crop in history, according to a government report released yesterday.

That sent a collective sigh of relief across much of the nation's food industry. The disaster scenario predicted by many — one marked by soaring grain prices, bankrupt livestock producers and skyrocketing grocery prices — has been averted.

While consumers will still see higher prices for everything from bread and cereal to eggs and turkey, the pain at the checkout counter won't be nearly as bad as previously thought, according to economists and agricultural analysts.

"We're still going to see food price inflation, but it could have been much, much worse had we not had the almost perfect weather since the middle of June," said Tom Elam, an economist with Farm Econ LLC, an agricultural consulting firm based in Indianapolis.

The August crop report is the most anticipated of the year because it is the first based on actual interviews with farmers and visits by USDA officials to farm fields. "The first few (crop reports) of the year are guesses," said Martin Farrell, an independent commodities trader in Minneapolis. "This one gives you the first solid idea of what the crop really looks like."

This year's view from the fields: The corn crop will total 12.288 billion bushels, up from 11.715 billion projected a month ago and second only to last year's record 13.1 billion-bushel harvest, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

Corn yields improved 4.4 percent from July estimates, to 155 bushels per acre, the USDA forecast.

But consumers likely will see little relief.

Though prices for grains have fallen dramatically since June, food and livestock producers are still paying roughly twice as much for corn as they did before the commodities-price rally began two years ago. And these prices have not fully filtered through the nation's food system, said Mitch Corwin, a senior analyst at Morningstar in Chicago.

Many supermarket and restaurant chains buy items like eggs, poultry and other staples on long-term contracts; which means that much of the price increases of the past 12 months won't appear on grocery and restaurant bills until next year, he said.

"Companies are rolling off their hedges," he said. "Even if corn is cheaper today than it has been recently, it's still very expensive by historic standards. ... You can't make an easy argument that, because corn is down $3, then food prices are coming down."