Unless you're looking to buy some inexpensive feed, the thought of $2 corn doesn't excite you. However, it's the thought of $2 corn in the past that may be holding you back from making more money this year on your farm.

When corn was $2/bushel, nearly every farmer I talked to for the last 20 years has asked the same question "How can I cut my costs?" If you're going into 2008 with that same mentality, it's going to cost YOU a lot of money. Sure, it's nice to spend less money, but when you're purchasing crop inputs you really aren't incurring expenses in the truest sense of the word. Crop inputs should be considered as investments and judged by the potential return on investment that each one could provide your farm. Here are a few examples to look at for this year.

Corn Rootworm refuge acres. If you're using Triple Stack corn on most of your acres, you are obviously seeing a return on your investment controlling corn rootworms. What are you doing on the refuge acres? Capture LFR at 6.8 ounces is less than $8 per acre and is an investment that should give you 5 to 10 more bushels of corn in the fall. At today's price of corn, that's over a 425% APR Return on Investment.

QuickRoots seed treatment for corn has shown a 6 to 8 bushel yield improvement on our farm over the last several years. It's less than $5 per acre (depending on seeding rate). That's better than a 400% APR Return on Investment.

Using a pre-emerge herbicide like Harness in front of your Roundup Ready corn rather than using 2 shots of Roundup is a $1.50 per acre investment. University trials for years have shown a yield advantage using a pre-emerge herbicide in a Roundup Ready corn program. Even if it was only worth a couple bushels of corn per acre, it would be more than a 1000% APR Return on Investment.

These are just a few examples of smart financial decisions you could make for your farm this year, but there are others, including fungicides, post-emerge insecticides, plant growth regulators, and micronutrients. Don't get hung up on trying to "save" money. Focus your efforts on trying to MAKE MORE MONEY. You have the best opportunity in the history of agriculture to earn great returns on investment this year due to high commodity prices. Don't let this pass you by. Look at anything you can do on your farm to increase yields and ask yourself, "WILL THIS PROVIDE A GOOD RETURN ON INVESTMENT?" If your answer is "YES", then invest.