"The Agriculture Department cut its harvest forecasts to reflect the devastating drought in the Eastern U.S., but consumers won't see much impact in their food bills.</br></br>Lush conditions in the Midwest mean farmers in the major grain states probably will harvest large enough crops over the next several weeks to keep the nation awash in a price-depressing grain glut. The two-year-old glut, combined with weak exports, has tipped the farm economy into recession.</br></br>Several economists said they continue to expect U.S. grocery prices to climb only about a moderate 2% this year. Cheap prices of raw materials such as corn are helping food manufacturers offset their rising costs of energy and labor.</br></br>""There is still plenty of everything to go around,"" said John M. Schnittker, a farm economist in Washington.</br></br>Based on monthly field surveys, the USDA said it expects farmers to harvest 2.78 billion bushels of soybeans, down 3% from its August forecast but still 1% larger than last year's record harvest."