More Farming. Fewer Uncertainties.
Corn farming is full of uncontrollable things like weather and the markets. How you farm isn’t one of them. Sustainable farming practices that build up soil health allow you to take more control of your farm by strengthening productivity and enabling profitability.
That’s why NCGA offers a broad portfolio of programs to help corn farmers explore and enact sustainable farming practices that work best for your operation.
Facts
Since 1980, corn farmers have been working to improve the quality of soil, water and air around our farms.
- Soil loss per bushel of corn has decreased by 51 percent.
- Corn production has seen a 30 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions per bushel.
- The energy used to produce a bushel of corn has decreased by 38 percent.
U.S. Corn farmers are committed to continuous improvement in the production of corn, a versatile crop providing abundant high-quality food, feed, renewable energy, biobased products, and ecosystem services. As stewards of the land, we understand the responsibility we have for creating a more environmentally and economically sustainable world for future generations with transparency and through continued advances and efficiencies in land, water and energy use.
For U.S. Corn Growers to show their commitment to the environment and climate change, National Corn Growers Association will release environmental sustainability goals in 2021 that will support this commitment statement.
Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present while improving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
NCGA is proud to be part of Field to Market a collaborative stakeholder group involving producers, agribusinesses, food and retail companies, and conservation organizations striving to develop a supply chain system for agricultural sustainability.
Field to Market focuses on these specific, critical outcomes: increasing agricultural productivity to meet future nutritional needs while decreasing impacts on the environment, including water, soil, habitat, air quality and climate emissions, and land use; improving human health through access to safe, nutritious food; and improving the social and economic well-being of agricultural communities.
In its first report issued in January 2009, the alliance looked at environmental resource indicators in five areas: water use and quality, land use and biodiversity, soil loss, energy use and climate impact. The report reviewed indicators for corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat and reported on progress from 1987 to 2007. Follow-up reports in 2012 and 2016 revealed our nation’s corn farmers have a good story to tell, with improvement across all metrics.
“The science and technology driving Field to Market is designed to measure environmental outcomes from individual farm fields. These metrics are science-based tools that have been developed or adopted by Field to Market through the multi-stakeholder governance process,” said Brandon Hunnicutt, a Nebraska farmer. “I think the stakeholder diversity behind Field to Market is one of its core strengths. There is an understanding that to make a profit, farmers need to sustain both the land and the business, and the exciting take-away from this report is that we now have the means to show you don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.”
Click here for the 2016 report.
Environmental indicators looked at water use and quality, land use and biodiversity, soil loss, energy use and climate impact. Corn improved on many key areas of resource efficiency.
The total change in 2015 when compared to 1980 for U.S. corn for grain production were as follows:
- Production Trends: Total corn for grain production increased (+119%) and crop yields improved by +61%.
- Resource Efficiency: Corn for grain improved resource efficiency with declines in per bushel land use (-41%), irrigation water use (-46%), energy use (-41%), and greenhouse gas emissions (-31%) and improvements in soil conservation (tons of soil loss per acre) (-58%).
- Per Acre and Total Resource Impact: Corn for grain also improved (decreased) for irrigation water use (-26%), energy use (-.5%), and greenhouse gas emissions (-26%) on a per acre basis.
“Consumers are increasingly asking questions about where and how their food is produced, and Field to Market offers a broad, credible partnership across the food and value chain to answer these questions and deliver sustainable outcomes,” according to Hunnicutt, a board member of the National Corn Growers Association and the first farmer to be selected as chairman of Field to Market.
Field to Market is developing and piloting scalable, science- and outcome-based sustainable metrics and tools to identify strategies for continuous improvement in agriculture. These tools are the result of dialogue with farmers, agribusinesses, food and retail companies and conservation organizations, which is grounded in science and open to the full range of technology choices available.
The Fieldprint Calculator is a free online tool for growers to voluntarily and securely analyze how their management choices impact natural resources and operational efficiency.
What is a "fieldprint"?
A "fieldprint" is the ratio of output to input, or an estimate of the impact an input has on an output. Assuming a given output, a smaller input means a smaller footprint and greater sustainability because fewer resources are needed to realize the same end result.
The Fieldprint Calculator is a simple tool designed to help you begin to look at how your crop production operations impact the sustainability of your farm. It provides general information based on the practices that are mostly likely to influence your energy use, climate impact, soil loss, and water use. After completing the questions, you can quickly assess whether your fieldprint value is smaller or greater than county, state and national averages. Furthermore, by selecting different answers to the same questions, you can see the movement in your fieldprint blue triangle relative to the static state and national orange triangles. The selection of a set of answers is a "scenario," which represents the "what ifs" in your management choices. We encourage you to try different scenarios, so that you can observe how management decisions made across all resources affect your sustainability.
NCGA is an active participant in several industry groups working on collaborative solutions for pollinator health on or near agricultural lands. Although corn is wind pollinated and does not benefit from insect pollination, a healthy and diversified ecosystem remains important to the long-term operation and sustainability of corn farms. Farmers will undoubtedly find a diverse array of pollinators in their corn fields and can take steps to help protect these species. The following guide provides additional information and best management practices for supporting pollinator health.
Best Practices for Pollinators Apr. 2019
Partners
The Soil Health Partnership was established in 2014 as a result of The Nature Conservancy, Bayer, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) having a shared vision of developing a farmer-led research network that could measure the impacts of implementing soil health practices on working farms. True to their vision of being led by farmers - and existing to serve farmers - SHP is a program of NCGA under the Stewardship Action team and serves as their flagship sustainability program.
By building a peer-to-peer network, the Soil Health Partnership partners with farmers to explore the economic and environmental benefits and risks of soil health practices. SHP collects on-farm data to evaluate the impacts of soil health practices on the soil, the environment, and the farmer’s bottom line.
Learn how the Soil Health Partnership promotes the adoption of soil health practices for economic and environmental benefit by visiting SoilHealthPartnership.org.
The Success in Stewardship Network will break down the notion that only an elite group of farmers can improve environmental results. Conservation practices that protect the land and water are accessible, profitable, scalable – and surprisingly ordinary on farms across America.
This network, presented by the National Corn Growers Association and Environmental Defense Fund, will celebrate and connect the farmers and programs that have succeeded in overcoming barriers to conservation. We encourage any stewards who participate in a recognized program or adopt conservation measures on their own to become part of the network.
Benefits of recognition
- Perks – Access sponsorship opportunities to attend Commodity Classic, and receive free membership in state corn grower associations and NCGA.
- Peer-to-peer learning and networking opportunities – Share your experiences, learn how others overcame barriers to adoption and discuss conservation opportunities.
- Supply chain recognition – Showcase achievement of conservation objectives and create new relationships with supply chain companies pursuing sustainability goals.
Criteria for state and regional conservation programs to be recognized
- Clear stewardship goal that the program aims to achieve.
- Strong data to measure and document environmental results.
- Defined process for recruiting farmers and helping them adopt best management practices.
- Support from state corn grower association for the program being submitted.
Criteria for individual farmers to be recognized
- Clear stewardship goals you are working toward.
- Defined process for collecting and managing data about stewardship.
- Good data to document results and continuous improvement.
Want to get involved?
Email Rachel Orf, Director of Stewardship and Sustainability, at stewardshipnetwork@ncga.com for more details.