The combination of rising fuel and fertilizer prices, migrant worker uncertainty and little progress on state-sponsored biofuel incentives is threatening to blow away farmers' profits this year.

Prices for corn fed to livestock and used to manufacture ethanol remain more than $6 per bushel, up from $3.53 per bushel a year ago. Another primary feed ingredient, soybean meal, jumped from $204 to $329 per ton.

U.S. food prices rose 4 percent overall in 2007, compared with 2.5 percent each of the past 15 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA has predicted a 4.5 percent rise in 2008.

Crude oil hit another record high Tuesday, closing at $113.93 per barrel.

The price increases are reflected in the rising cost of agricultural production, so planting more crops will not necessarily yield greater profit.

Gene Cooper, owner of Gene Cooper Farms in Worth Township, faces a dual dilemma as a grower and owner/operator of his own tractor-trailer.

Fuel surcharges and return loads from trips to Ohio and eastern Pennsylvania have kept his truck on the road. However, he said, "The price of fuel comes right off my bottom line, that's for sure."

He said if farmers are likely to plant more of a crop, it will be soybeans, not corn, because they require less fertilizer and are cheaper to grow.

"The input cost will be a lot higher, but hopefully so will the haul from our crops. The low value of the American dollar has made our exports more attractive to other countries, pushing up demand and prices for commodities," Cooper said.

He has already planted 27 acres of wheat and will plant about 65 acres of corn, 30 acres of oats and 20 acres of soybeans.

Cooper, like many other farmers, is limited in planting extra crops because of field rotation, which allows used soil time to recover its nutrients.

"I'll probably stick to the same acreage of beans and corn I always do. Otherwise, it throws off the (field) rotation," said Glenn Studebaker, owner of Northview Farms in Worth Township.

Studebaker, who plants about 300 acres of corn, oats, wheat, soybeans and hay, said fertilizer costs are of principal concern to any grower.

"Customers who bought their fertilizer before the big (price) increase are better off," Studebaker said.

He is one of those farmers, but conceded "we're not out of the woods yet."

Fertilizer prices have doubled from $350 to almost $700 per ton in the past two years, in part because of rising energy costs and increased agricultural production overseas, resulting in more international demand.

"Prices have skyrocketed the past two years, and they will probably stay up for the future," said Douglas Beegle, a soil fertility specialist with the Penn State Extension office.

Beegle said since energy costs are unlikely to drop soon and since countries such as China and India are expanding their agriculture, U.S. farmers must adapt to the changing economic landscape.

Third-generation farmer Jim Foertsch of Jefferson Township said: "If you look at the bigger picture, the government wants people to eat cheap, recreate and work. If commodity prices stay up, then food prices go up."

He said another consequence of rising fertilizer costs is rising rent for farmers who lease their land.

"Some of the owners feel as commodities go up rent should rise, too," said Foertsch.

Farmers nationwide are already contending with high feed costs stemming from corn-based ethanol production. But the higher corn price for dairy farmers and others who raise livestock "is weighing itself out," according to Foertsch.

"Farming is a gamble. It's easier to go to Las Vegas," he said.

Ben Wootton, president of Keystone Biofuels in Cumberland County, said biodiesel producers from more than 20 other states have a competitive price advantage because those states have enacted incentives of up to $1.50 per gallon for biodiesel companies to encourage in-state production.

"It's cheaper for a distributor to buy biodiesel made in the Midwest, ship it on a truck and then sell it here in Pennsylvania, rather than buying within the Commonwealth and using not only Pennsylvania fuel but also feedstocks from Pennsylvania farmers," Wootton stated in a release from the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

The Farm Bureau has urged state lawmakers to enact legislation providing short-term incentives for the state's biodiesel industry.

Bureau President Carl Shaffer asked the question: "Does it make sense in a state where we're trying to retain our industry, that we should not be an alternative fuels leader?"

Subsidies to Pennsylvania's ethanol production today open the door for the cellulosic ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel industries tomorrow, argued Shaffer, himself a third-generation farmer.

Cellulosic ethanol is similar to corn-based ethanol, but uses more diverse and readily available sources, such as corn stover, switchgrass, miscanthus and wood chips.

Additionally, Pennsylvania has the nation's largest rural population, according to the Farm Bureau, one which could be helped by a boom in alternative fuel production.

"The majority of the Pennsylvania farmer's money is reinvested in the community, be it for seed or equipment or otherwise," Shaffer said.

The Farm Bureau also has pushed for passage of Gov. Ed Rendell's PennSecurity Fuels Initiative. That would require the blending of biodiesel and ethanol in fuels in Pennsylvania once the production of the renewable fuels reaches certain levels.

Pennsylvania's biodiesel industry started about four years ago, and Shaffer said about half of the state's eight plants are at a standstill.

An ethanol plant is being built in Clearfield, but neither Cooper nor Studebaker expressed interest in taking corn there without an incentive.

"Corn can be used for ethanol or feed. As far as I'm concerned, I'll take the corn where I can get the most money for it," Cooper said.

In addition to high input cost and few incentives, insignificant progress on the immigration debate in Congress is making it difficult for farmers to find labor for harvest and dairy milking.

As of 2006, the USDA estimated about 20,000 migrant workers were in the four-state region of Delaware, New Jersey, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Farmers may recruit guest workers through the H-2A program, but must forecast their work needs far in advance because workers must be paid for a set number of weeks regardless of whether the harvest is bountiful or wiped out.

Also, the Department of Homeland Security searches for mismatches between its information and that provided by workers. Mismatches can result in a work crew, illegal or not, being rounded up by the government during harvest time.

"You cannot get through all the bureaucracy to utilize (the H-2A program). We need an adequate, reliable guest worker program," Shaffer said.

Farmers can be held liable for illegal immigrant workers, but are not permitted to ask an employee's country of origin because of anti-discrimination laws.

While the obvious solution appears to be hiring local workers, Shaffer said H-2A requires jobs be advertised to local workers first, but nobody wants them.

"Why would a farmer hire a migrant worker if local workers were available? Nobody is going to give up their job for six weeks to harvest tomatoes. It's seasonal work," Shaffer said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.