USDA forecasts grain prices will reach bottom next year

Grain prices could reach a long-term bottom next year, according to USDA's long-range projections released Feb. 16, 2017.

"Marketing year 2017-18 projections suggest the end of the price declines and the beginning of modest increases that are expected to continue through 2026," says the report.

It projects a decade of steady growth in demand for U.S. corn but a declining share of global corn trade.

For soybeans, "Slowly increasing prices and higher producer returns provide incentives to increase plantings, and producers are expected to plant roughly 85 million acres through the projection period," USDA says.

Projections point to a decline in wheat plantings below 50 million acres, with steady U.S. demand and slowly rising exports but a decline in share of global wheat trade.