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• Lisa Richardson, executive director of South Dakota Corn Growers Association and the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, said high prices after the drought led to a huge decrease in exports, and ethanol companies aren't building new plants. The China market is ripe for expansion, but it hasn't opened up enough to have an effect, she said.
• Farmers who must decide whether to plant corn or switch to soybeans, oats or small grains need answers to such questions as they make plans for their next crops.
• "Is it going to come from exports? Are we going to grow our ethanol industry? Where are we going to get the next billion or 2 billion bushels worth of demand?" Richardson said. "That's really the unknown question out there right now."
• Saturday's annual meeting at the Sioux Falls Convention Center will also include panels on nutrient management, conservation and sustainability.
• Corn, which sold for about $8.20 per bushel in June 2012, was trading at about $4.28 per bushel Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Last week, corn dropped to its lowest price in more than 3 years on the announcement of a large increase in ethanol supplies, but rose 5 percent the next day after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for last year's corn crop.
• Whether South Dakota farmers can pull a profit from current prices depends on many factors. Yields in South Dakota vary widely from year to year, and fertilizer, feed and land costs continue to rise, Richardson said.
• "Is $4 break even? Not always," she said. "It totally depends on what your land costs are and it also depends on what your yields are."
• Troy Knecht, a Houghton farmer with about 4,700 acres in a corn-soybean rotation, said South Dakota corn growers typically earn about 40 cents to 50 cents per bushel less than the Chicago price.
• Knecht's not planning any drastic changes for this year's planting, but potential local prices of about $3.75 per bushel are pushing him to shift slightly toward beans -- perhaps a 55 percent soy-45 percent corn mix. He's hoping that spring weather patterns allow him to get his corn crop planted early so it has the chance to meet its full potential.
• "We are kind of going to stay the course, I guess," Knecht said. "Ideally, we'd like a 50 percent corn-50 percent rotation.
• Knecht, who also sells seed, said his customers are expressing similar sentiment. But a few farmers with marginal land told Knecht that they're planning to shift those acres to soybeans.
• South Dakota produced an estimated 809 million bushels of corn in 2013, which

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