Corn Producers Launch ‘Sustaining Innovation’ Campaign
Posted: June 23, 2009
Building off a campaign conducted in Washington, D.C., by the National Corn Growers Association and several state corn organizations, the Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Corn Growers Association have launched a campaign in Nebraska to promote some of the positive aspects of farming today.
Some of the positive messages include the fact that American farmers have slashed the fertilizer needed to grow a bushel of corn by 36 percent in the last three decades and that farmers have cut erosion 44 percent in the last two decades.
“Farmers are also growing five times more corn today than they did in the 1930s but we’re doing so on 20 percent less land,” said Jon Holzfaster, chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board. “Farmers have always and will continue to adapt and improve how they farm. We felt it was important to let the people of Nebraska know.”
Holzfaster said the campaign comes in response to some negative messages about corn production and, in part, corn-based ethanol, that have surfaced over the last year. “It got to a point that we felt some facts about farming today needed to be told,” he said.
The campaign is known as “Sustaining Innovation” because farmers are incredibly innovative and have continuously improved their productivity since humans first placed a seed in the soil. “We strive to do a better job in every row, on every acre, on every farm, every season,” Holzfaster said.