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• Corn acres in South Dakota are expected to total 5.5 million this year, up 300,000 from last year and rivaling the 1931 crop as the largest in state history. Good prices have a lot to do with that, but good weather also is a big reason.
• "Planting conditions are almost ideal," Gross said. "The ground hasn't been in this good of condition in my part of the state in years. Everybody is cautiously upbeat."
• Farmers who can't plant because of flooding can collect crop insurance, but the amount is

much less than what they would get by growing and selling a crop.
• "All you do is cover your cash rent, your machinery payments, and survive," Opland said. "You've got to have a crop to make money."
• North Dakota typically leads the nation in the production of durum wheat, which is used for pasta, and barley, which becomes beer and livestock feed. The plummet in production last year -- 62 percent for barley and 72 percent for durum -- didn't provide much of a boost to durum prices, with plentiful supplies in Canada. But the malting industry dramatically increased contracts it offered to farmers last fall to buy back acres lost to flooding and to more profitable crops such as corn.
• "People are excited to just get out in the field and get a crop in," said Keith Deutsch, who last year was able to get only about half of his durum planted near Plaza. "Much more optimistic than last year."
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