Though they edged back from sharper losses earlier in the day's session, corn, soybean and wheat futures all took a beating in Monday's trade.

December corn futures ended the day 8 cents lower at $6.47 per bushel, while November soybeans were 9 1/2 cents lower at $12.07 1/2 and December wheat was 16 1/4 cents lower at $6.28 1/4, according to Barchart.com.

There was just too much working against the grains Monday for there to be much upside; the U.S. Dollar index was stronger while the world's attention was again drawn to the instability in the European economy. On top of that, brokerage firm MF Global announced Sunday it was seeking bankruptcy protection, another bearish drag for the grains.

• Talk: MF Global's bankruptcy and other reasons to 'play defense'

So, will the MF Global situation become another market factor the size of the European debt crisis so far? "As far as this being a far reaching problem, we shall see but I expect that there will be some liquidation coming through the pipeline soon as this situation resolves itself," says Derivitaves manager for ICAP Energy LLC and Agriculture.com Market Analyst Scott Shellady.

Chipping into Monday's losses also were a weak day of export demand and actions taken by Japanese officials to moderate devaluation of that nation's currency.

• See more: Corn ends lower on host of pressures