US corn area may not ease drought worry

American farmers likely sowed far more soybean seeds than they had originally intended this year and planted the most corn acreage in 75 years, the U.S. government is expected to say on Friday in a report that has been overshadowed by a deepening drought in the Midwest.

The U.S. Agriculture Department's acreage and quarterly stockpile reports, normally among the most important of the year for estimating supplies from the world's top grower, may be set aside by traders who fear that intense heat and a lack of rain is damaging corn stalks every day. Those conditions also may have dissuaded some farmers from planting soybeans on recently harvested wheat fields.