Some help for farmers to deal with corn-gobbling cranes. Joint Finance Committee member, Senator Luther Olson, said farmers are heading into the fields to sow their corn crops. "Sandhill cranes are really smart birds, and they find out where corn is in certain areas of that state, and they go right down the row and eat up the corn seeds." There's a solution to the problem: seed corn treated with a chemical cranes don't like. Many farmers are already using the seed, but Olson said the state needs to fund further research. The committee approved a grant of 71-thousand dollars each of the next two years to the Baraboo-based International Crane Foundation , to complete research on the crane-proof corn.