By Kirk Maltais

-Corn for September delivery fell 3.1% at $4.08 3/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday, with traders paring their positions in front of both tomorrow's USDA reports and the end of the month/quarter.

-Wheat for September delivery fell 2% to $5.78 a bushel.

-Soybeans for November delivery fell 1.6% to $11.37 1/2 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Two-Pronged Approach: Traders short-covering before the end of the month competed with disappointment around an easing weather outlook for crop-growing areas. "The need to liquidate remaining July contracts has collided with eroding medium-term Central U.S. weather threats," said AgResource in a note. The firm adds that tomorrow's reports from the USDA are not expected to move the needle regarding supply-and-demand fundamentals.

Wet Wave: The National Weather Service's latest 6-10 day weather forecast shows above-average rainfall for much of the Corn Belt, which is likely to give crops growing in these states ample precipitation even as hot weather drapes the area. Looking out further, that rainfall is expected to move through the Corn Belt and into the East Coast. "The 6-10 day outlook remains active across the heart of the country before the 11-15 day period turns drier overall," said Joe Davis of Futures International in a note.

Marking Time: Tomorrow is both the end of June and the end of the second quarter of 2026. Selling appeared to prevail move ahead of then. "All the fund buying last week, is giving way to fund selling today," said Brian Hoops of Midwest Market Solutions. "The selling is pressuring futures and breaking key technical support." Corn, soybeans, and wheat are all up year to date, according to FactSet data, but prices have eased as risk premium added in the wake of the U.S.-Iran conflict has been slowly retracted.

INSIGHT

Marquee Reports: Tomorrow's yearly acreage report from the USDA is expected to show higher soybean and wheat acreage versus March's Prospective Planting report, according to Hedgepoint Global in a note. The firm projects soybeans at 85.4 million acres and wheat at 43.9 million acres. Corn acreage is expected to fall by 300,000 acres to 95 million acres, the firm said. A lack of planting delays this spring bodes well for the accuracy of March's acreage report, according to Hedgepoint Global. "Given this, we are likely to see few changes in the soybean and corn figures, although surprises cannot be ruled out due to the issue of production costs, which rose this season as a result of the war between the U.S. and Iran," said the firm.

Grinding Lower: CBOT grain futures fell to open the day, changing direction from last week's higher closes. "The bullish reversals from last week are on the verge of being 'taken out' with prices potentially grinding lower," said Naomi Blohm of Total Farm Marketing in a note. "While weather is hot, there are chances for rain."

AHEAD

-The USDA will release its yearly Acreage report at noon ET Tuesday.

-The USDA will release its quarterly Grain Stocks report at noon ET Tuesday.

-General Mills will release its fourth quarter and full-year 2026 earnings report at 7 a.m. ET Wednesday.

-The EIA will release its Weekly Petroleum Status Update report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

-The USDA will release its monthly Grain Crushings report at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com