The USDA recently decided to cut corn, soy, and wheat projections by 3.8%. It may seem like a small amount, but the Wall Street Journal reports: "The USDA reduction was the largest in percentage terms since a similar-size cut in 1995, and the largest in bushel terms since at least the 1970s."
Economists expect farmers to react by planting "millions more acres of corn and wheat, which should benefit sellers of seed and chemicals to farmers such as Monsanto Co. and DuPont Co." However, with much of the US arable land already in use, experts worry that other crops will be pushed aside and possibly create shortages in other areas of the food market. And while retail food prices are now increasing at the slowest rate since 1992, some economists claim that the rising commodity prices in the food market "will likely cause the food inflation rate to accelerate next year."