Centralia corn

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LulaBrazilia: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 116; Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:50 amFollowed by: 1 member

by LulaBrazilia » Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:45 pm

Which of the following most logically completes the passage below?

Heavy rains during Centralia's corn planting season prevented some farmers there from planting corn. It is now the planting season for soybeans, another of Centralia's principal crops, and those fields originally intended for corn are dry enough for planting. Nonetheless, even though soybean prices are unusually high at present, the farmers will leave most of these fields empty rather than plant them with soybeans, since _______.

(A) the extensive rains have led to an increase in the price of corn

(B) some Centralian farmers anticipate serious financial losses due to the extremely wet spring planting season

(C) chemicals that were used to prepare the fields for corn planting would stunt the growth of soybeans

(D) the majority of Centralia's corn farmers were able to plant corn as they had intended, despite the wet planting season

(E) many Centralian farmers grow both corn and soybeans

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:45 pm

Patrick_GMATFix: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1052; Joined: Fri May 21, 2010 1:30 amFollowed by: 98 members; Thanked: 335 times

by Patrick_GMATFix » Thu Feb 13, 2014 7:27 pm

Fill-in-the-blank questions require you to complete the author's train of thought. In this scenario, the right answer must provide a reason that explains why farmers will choose not to plant soybeans even though (1) it is the soybean planting season, (2) fields are dry enough for planting, (3) and soybean prices are really high at present.

Before reading the answers, consider for yourself what might explain the farmer's behavior. Maybe the heavy rains that fell during the corn planting season will have a detrimental effect on the soybean quality; maybe although soybean prices are really high at present, farmers expect them to drop so low by harvest time that planting soybeans is not worth the cost.

The full solution below is taken from the GMATFix App.

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LaraKK: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2013 5:13 am; Thanked: 2 times

by LaraKK » Fri Feb 14, 2014 2:38 am

I would say "C"

Abhishek009: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 359; Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:37 amFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Kolkata, India; Thanked: 50 times

by Abhishek009 » Fri Feb 14, 2014 7:19 am

+1 for [spoiler](C)[/spoiler] , plz provide the OA along with OE.

Abhishek

Bill@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1248; Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:57 pmFollowed by: 192 members; Location: Everywhere; Thanked: 503 times; GMAT Score:780

by Bill@VeritasPrep » Fri Feb 14, 2014 11:37 am

Abhishek009 wrote:+1 for [spoiler](C)[/spoiler] , plz provide the OA along with OE.

The OA is C.

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[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pmFollowed by: 511 members; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Fri Feb 14, 2014 1:04 pm

Hi LulaBrazilia,

This CR prompt is an example of a fill-in-the-blank inference question. You'll need to understand the logic behind the prompt, then choose an answer that logically fits with the other ideas and completes the last sentence.

The Facts:
-Heavy rains during corn planting season prevented farmers from planting corn.
-It's now planting season for soybeans (and the fields ARE dry enough for planting)
-Soybean prices ARE high.
-The farmers will leave most of those fields empty though SINCE.....

The Logic:
-Even though the farmers CAN plant soybeans and probably make money from selling soybeans, there is SOME REASON WHY the farmers shouldn't plant soybeans. Since the first part of the question discussed corn, it's likely that the correct answer will also discuss corn AND will give us a reason WHY farmers WON'T plant corn.

Only answer C fits with the logic in this prompt.

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