Scarcely three weeks after corn, wheat and soybeans plunged on news of the U.S. ban on sale of 17 million tons of grain to the Soviet Union, cash prices of all three crops largely returned to pre-embargo levels. The reasons for the rebound are many: the boom in gold and silver has led to a general surge in commodities; war scares have fanned fears of a reduction in available world grain supplies; a 1 million-ton export order has come in from Mexico; and there are rumors of higher demand from China. Most important, traders who oversold when the embargo was announced now expect that the Administration will counter the negative effects.

Some surplus grain will continue to hang over markets and may weaken prices later. In fact, a glut had weakened prices before the embargo. Despite that block, Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland expects U.S. grain exports to rise from 93 million tons in fiscal 1979 to 99 million tons this year. But if need be, the Government still has plans to buy as much as 14 million tons of the embargoed grain. Farmers are also being given more financial incentives to store grain, and the Administration is considering paying them not to plant.

Some Agriculture Department officials fear that too much aid may be granted to farmers, whose total net income had slumped to under $20 billion in 1976 and 1977 but jumped to $27.9 billion and more than $32 billion respectively in the past two bountiful years. Administration aides intend not only to prevent farmers from losing too much from the embargo but also to guard against their making too much.

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