Sun, Soil, Satellites and Statistics

The rain may pour, the sun may pound, but Kelly Robertson doesn't mind. He's a southern Illinois farmer who's always drawn a living from nature.

Between Rubenacker Farms in Dahlgren, Ill. - the commercial crop farm he helps manage - and his own fields down the road, Robertson oversees more than 9,300 acres of corn, wheat and soybeans.

His crops travel more than he ever has, part of the $200 billion worth of agricultural products grown in the U.S. each year, and the

$68 billion to be exported this year to South Korea, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and other points around the world.

Ten years ago, a grain farmer walked the fields and stooped to run his fingers …