Farmers try to limit pain of high fuel prices

Choosing crops is first step in search for profit

VOLIN, S.D. – Like probably every farmer, Reid Jensen has a pen.

It’s as necessary as the tractor, the shiny new 24-row planter and any other piece of equipment with which the president of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association farms 1,800 acres near here.

Figures scratched out with the pen help him gauge whether the money he spends putting in corn and soybeans and trying to boost yields pays off in more abundant crops and better marketing opportunities.

Some canny work with the pen could be especially important this year as South Dakota farmers face significantly higher costs for fuel and fertilizer.

Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)