ST. LOUIS, Mo. — With a monster harvest of corn and beans expected, and market prices continuing to slide, the agriculture industry’s biggest companies are predicting continued tight financial times in the coming year.

St. Louis-based Monsanto Co., for instance, announced last week it is expecting lower-than-anticipated profit during the next fiscal year – citing the likelihood of changed planting plans based on this year’s expected record crop yields, the purchase of fewer supplies such as pesticides and the delay of major equipment purchases.

In a conference call with analysts last week, Monsanto’s top leader said bumpier times are ahead. “This year the industry will certainly face the headwinds of a more-challenging agricultural environment,” said CEO Hugh Grant. “We’re not immune.”

Nonetheless, Grant believes the world’s largest seed company by volume remains well-positioned for investors through 2019. “We’re confident in our ability to deliver the targets we’ve set in both the near-term and over the longer term,” he said.

“In an industry that’s particularly near-term focused right now, there are few companies as well positioned to deliver strong growth today, while significantly increasing investments to enable the continued delivery of a broad range of innovative solutions for tomorrow.”

For the year ended Sept. 1, Monsanto reported net sales of approximately $15.9 billion, up about 7 percent over the same period a year ago but far lower than originally planned. For the most recent quarter, Monsanto reported a loss of $156 million, with about $90 million of that total pegged for the settlement of an environmental lawsuit.

Matt Arnold, an analyst with Edward Jones in St. Louis, said Monsanto is taking a rational look at market conditions. “We think it is reasonable for management to be conservative at this early juncture in light of uncertainty within the agriculture industry, with crop prices under pressure and farmer planting intentions unsure,” he said.

Grain-trading company Cargill, Inc., based in Minnesota, announced last week its profits declined nearly 26 percent in the recent quarter, which the third straight quarter of lower profits. But CEO David MacLennan said the company will benefit from the massive crop expected in the coming weeks; a fresh crop to trade and higher volume should lead to short-term cheaper raw materials for food processing and ethanol production.

“Our company is well-positioned to connect these new supplies to growing demand,” he said.

Equipment manufacturers such as Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar, Inc. are already seeing lighter demand for some of their products. For the second quarter of 2014, Caterpillar reported revenues of $14.2 billion, slightly down from $14.6 billion for the same period last year.