Corn groups launch ‘Sustaining Innovation’ campaign

Building off the Corn Farmers Coalition campaign in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, 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.

Here are some of the bullet points:

• American farmers grow five times more corn than they did in the 1930s—on 20% less land!
• Corn farmers cut erosion 44% in two decades thanks to new tillage methods.
• American farmers slashed the fertilizer needed to grow a bushel of corn by 36% in just three decades.
• Family farmers grow 90% of America’s corn crop.

"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," said Jon Holzfaster, chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board, in a news release announcing the campaign.

Find the news release here.

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.

Brandon Hunnicutt, president of the Nebraska Corn Growers and a farmer from Giltner, said, “By increasing our productivity and producing more with less land, less fertilizer and less chemicals, farmers are feeding more people and are more sustainable today than at any point in history.”

The campaign began this month and will run through the rest of the year. It includes radio and print advertising in select media outlets plus other activities - as well as some decked out delivery trucks that will be making the rounds in Lincoln through the end of the year.

To listen to the radio spots, view the ads (image above is an example) or check out the trucks (right), click here to visit a special web page developed for the campaign.