By Julie Ingwersen

CHICAGO (Reuters) -High levels of fungal disease are lurking in corn fields across the U.S. Midwest, threatening to reduce yields of a record-large crop and cause headaches for farmers during the autumn harvest, growers and crop experts said.

The outbreaks are a blow to farmers in the world’s biggest corn-producing country as they struggle to make money due to low grain prices and rising costs for fertilizer, seed and other inputs. Farmers had hoped to produce the biggest possible yields to offset low prices, and crop diseases put that plan at risk.

“I’ve never seen disease as severe as I’ve seen this year,” Iowa State University plant pathologist Alison Robertson said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected in August that farmers would produce a record-breakin

See Full Page