CornsTalk

  • Four Ways Drones Are Used in Agriculture

    As the agricultural landscape continues to evolve, producers are looking for new and exciting ways to increase their yields while also conserving resources and limiting their impact on the environment. One of the ways they are doing this is through the use of agricultural drones to evaluate and care for [...]

  • Four Ways Drones Are Used in Agriculture

    As the agricultural landscape continues to evolve, producers are looking for new and exciting ways to increase their yields while also conserving resources and limiting their impact on the environment. One of the ways [...]

  • What Happens to Corn After It’s Harvested?

    Corn is a staple crop across the world, used for food ingredients, animal feed, ethanol and a wide range of other uses. But field corn, especially the field corn grown across Nebraska, typically goes through [...]

  • Smart Farming: Agriculture of the Future

    For the vast majority of people, agriculture uses technology like tractors or combines. But did you know that today’s farmers use cutting-edge technology like lasers, robotics and intelligent software? With access to these tools, [...]

  • How Corn Farmers Use Multispectral Imaging in the Field

    When people think of cutting edge-technology, they tend to think of big companies like Google or Amazon in big cities. But innovative tools have their place in every industry, including rural industries like agriculture. In [...]

  • You Asked, We Answered: Where All the Corn in Nebraska Goes

    Nebraska is the third largest corn-producing state in the United States. But what happens to all the corn our farmers grow? While some of it is exported internationally, much of Nebraska’s corn actually stays [...]

  • How Ethanol Reduces Greenhouse Gases

    In 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported farmers experienced a near-record high for corn production. U.S. growers produced 15.1 billion bushels, NASS said, which is the second-highest production on [...]

  • Farmers Do a Lot to Protect Our Environment

    Farmers, like those in Nebraska, have a vested interest in protecting the environment. They use a wide range of tools and strategies to safeguard the soil, water, air quality and more. After all, healthy [...]

  • How Corn Production’s Change Over Time Impacts Products

    From being used as a food source for Native Americans to being an integral part of many everyday products, corn's use has evolved greatly over time. The first record of corn being used as [...]

  • Five Ways Farmers Improve Sustainability

    Through advancements in technology, genetics and management, today’s farmers in Nebraska and across the country can grow more corn with less impact on the environment. That means they’re using less fertilizer, water and land [...]

  • Three Ways Corn Farmers Minimize Agriculture’s Impact on Air Pollution

    Air pollution poses a major threat to the environment and to our health. In fact, the World Health Organization says poor outdoor air quality is linked to increased risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and chronic [...]

  • Did You Know These 10 Products Were Made with Corn?

    Few crops are as versatile as corn. This humble grain can be used to make everything from tortillas to cornbread. In fact, corn is a key ingredient in many of your favorite foods. It [...]

  • Five Ways Farmers Protect Water Quality: Here’s How

    As farmers grow and raise the food we eat, they also work to keep the natural environment as untouched as possible. One of the most important ways they do this is by protecting local [...]

  • Sunset over a field

    Cover Crops Can Improve Your Corn Harvest

    People unfamiliar with farming might assume that fertilizer is the only way to improve the growth and overall health of crops like corn. While fertilizer can be a useful tool, farmers are resourceful and [...]

  • Blue handle ethanol gas pump in car

    Ethanol Can Help Ease Recent Gas Prices

    Everyone with a car, lawn mower, motorcycle or other gasoline-powered machinery is feeling the pressure at the pump. Gas prices have remained high for several weeks (or months) now and they don’t seem to [...]

  • Farmers Keep Soil Healthy with Regenerative and Sustainable Practices

    As more people become engaged with where their food comes from and who is growing it, a central question comes into focus: Are we doing the best we can with the resources we have? [...]

  • Water Conservation

    Q: What does it mean to “conserve water”? Denise: Conserving water means not using more water than necessary for any given purpose. For example, we use shade structures to keep our cattle cool and [...]

  • Soil Health

    Q: Why should we care if soil is healthy? Ruth: Healthy soil sustains our world’s food supply. When soil is healthy, the ecosystem within the soil has the optimum levels of structure, living organisms, nutrients [...]

  • Sustainability

    sus•tain•a•bil•i•ty (noun) Supplying a growing world with food, fuel, feed and fiber — while safeguarding its resources for future generations. Our world’s natural resources matter. The agriculture industry depends upon clean water, soil and [...]

  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions

    Q: Is livestock destroying the atmosphere? Diane: When it comes to livestock emissions, the most common misconception I see is the idea that cattle are a major contributor to greenhouse gases and that [...]

  • Family vs. Corporate Farming

    Crystal raises cattle and crops with her family outside Columbus, Nebraska. What is the difference between family farming and corporate farming? Crystal: I think sometimes when people hear the term “family [...]

  • Antibiotics & Hormones

    All of us want to ensure the food we’re feeding our families is safe to eat. Occasionally, food labels increase confusion about the safety of substances such as added hormones and antibiotics. Let’s explore [...]

  • Grass vs. Grain-Fed

    What’s the difference between grass and grain-fed beef? Sharon: The difference between grass and grain-fed beef boils down to what the animals eat. For at least part of their lives, all cattle on our ranch [...]

  • Animal Health

    You deserve to know that your food is safe and that it has been raised humanely. Dairy farmer Melisa Konecky from Wahoo, Nebraska, and poultry producer Karah Perdue from York, Nebraska, address concerns about how our food is [...]

  • Animal Care

    Q: Should we be concerned about how animals are treated on the farm? Melisa: I love hearing that people care about the well-being and treatment of animals. Farmers, as a whole, have great respect for [...]

  • What to Know About the Labels on Your Food

    Q&A with CommonGround CommonGround is a national movement driven by farm women, whose mission is to share information about agriculture and how food is grown and raised. We caught up with CommonGround volunteer [...]

  • In All Kinds of Weather

    Matthew Brugger will never forget the day he realized that his family’s line of work is different. It was the morning of his grandfather’s funeral. A morning when it would have been perfectly [...]

  • Farm-to-Table Explained

    As our nation’s urban areas grow, consumers in the grocery store are increasingly separated from the producers who grow the meat, fruit and vegetables they buy there. While consumers are sometimes able to purchase food directly from the [...]

  • New Ideas on Old Dirt

    How two brothers are closing the gap between their farm and your table Brugger brothers Joe and Matthew were born to work together – perhaps just like their dad and uncle before them, [...]

  • Farmers are Partnering to Protect the Environment

    For farmers and ranchers, prioritizing sustainability extends far beyond their own land. That’s how a unique initiative called Farmers for Monarchs was born.  Farmers for Monarchs is a collaborative effort that includes farmers, ranchers, landowners, researchers, academic institutions, [...]

  • From the Ground Up

    All healthy crops have to start somewhere. To be more specific – the ground. But hearty, high yielding crops can’t just sprout in any patch of dirt. In fact, “dirt” is really just the stuff [...]

  • Old As Dirt

    Conservation-centered agricultural practices are restorative for ecosystems above and below the Earth’s surface – and this is nothing new! Keith Byerly is a field manager with the Soil Health Partnership (SHP) – a [...]

  • The Untold Environmental Pros of Cow Poop

    You’ve surely seen the headlines. In recent years, the carbon footprint of livestock production has received a fair amount of criticism from environmentalists, journalists and even legislators. Some consumers have cited it as a [...]

  • Using and Conserving Water

    Irrigation is almost as old as farming is. As irrigation techniques advance, water conservation is the key to maintaining robust world food production.  The goal of water conservation is not rocket science: be precise and [...]

  • Fueling a Cleaner Future

    When you stop at the gas station to top off your tank, how much thought do you put in to choosing the fuel that’s right for your car? For your wallet? For the environment? [...]

  • Field to Market

    Agriculture’s environmental footprint affects all of us, but it’s an especially high priority for the men and women who live and work within the agricultural supply chain. In 2006, a diverse group including farmers, [...]

  • Golden Triangle

    Nebraska is better situated in terms of corn, livestock and ethanol than any other state in the nation. Together, these three components form “Nebraska’s Golden Triangle,” which serves as a powerful economic engine for [...]

  • Nebraska Popcorn

    Popcorn has always been an important part of Norm Krug’s story. His father grew it for 40 years. To Norm, popcorn symbolizes quality time spent with family; gathered around an evening television program, enjoying [...]

  • Bioplastics

    The Problem Petroleum-based plastics are created using a man-made polymer called polyethylene terephthalate (or PET). Unlike other biodegradable materials such as food, or even newspapers, PET does not break down when exposed to the [...]

  • Improving Animals Through Genetic Innovation

    Breeding practices have been used for centuries to improve the usefulness of animals to humans—as sources of food, as a means of transportation, a way to get work done, or simply for companionship. “If [...]

  • Farmers Become Gamers in TAPS Competition

    It’s a unique combination of virtual farming and real life—with the winners claiming some very nice cash prizes. It’s called TAPS, Testing Ag Performance Solutions, an innovative competition created by Nebraska Extension that pits [...]

  • More choices at the pump: It’s a good thing.

    When you pull up to a flex fuel pump, there are a lot of options—and American Ethanol is responsible for providing most of them. The result is a wide range of choices—and a lot [...]

  • Ethanol Simplified

    Straight answers to key questions about Nebraska’s clean air fuel. Nebraska’s ethanol industry is a major economic driver for the state: • Nebraska is the nation’s second largest ethanol producer with 2.18 billion [...]

  • Ethanol investment creates C-Store opportunity for Nelson farm family.

    When Taylor Nelson of Jackson, Nebraska, graduated from UNL in 2012, the farm economy was on fire. Rents and land values were increasing at an unprecedented rate and farmers were snapping up every opportunity [...]

  • Why family farms choose to incorporate.

    Many people are surprised to learn that 99% of farms in America are family-owned. That statistic flies in the face of those who believe that we’ve “lost” the traditional family farm to large “corporate [...]

  • How the farmer’s daughter became a farmer

    Sarah Greer has always had farming in her blood. “When I graduated from high school, people asked me what I wanted to do when I got out of college. I said I [...]

  • Water: The Lifeblood of Nebraska

    Aquamart: Positioning agriculture as a leader in water management Agriculture is the largest user of water not only in Nebraska, but around the globe. However, there are other stakeholders such as municipalities, recreation, wildlife, [...]

  • Aquifer 101

    The facts behind Nebraska’s tremendous groundwater resources. Is an aquifer an “underground ocean” of water? No. The term “aquifer” actually refers to earth materials, often formations of solid rock, that can store and transmit [...]

  • Farmers or Villains?

    Nebraska farmers working with leading environmental group to improve water efficiency. Farmers and environmental groups are frequently at odds with each other and don’t always see eye to eye. But that is changing in [...]

  • The Nebraska Corn Checkoff

    In 1978, the Nebraska Legislature established the Nebraska corn checkoff. In fact, it was the first corn checkoff in the nation to be approved. But it was corn farmers who led the charge. Forty [...]

  • 95% of the World’s Population Lives Outside the U.S.

    That’s why trade matters to Nebraska’s ag economy. With the productivity of U.S. agriculture growing faster than domestic demand, U.S. farmers and agricultural firms rely heavily on export markets to sustain prices and revenues. [...]

  • Why most farmers don’t plow their fields.

    Ever wonder why more and more farmers are leaving “trash” in their fields after harvest? Those cornstalks, corn cobs and leaves are called “residue”— and they are helping farmers improve soil quality and manage [...]

  • What makes a soil “healthy”?

    “The key to soil health is to strike the right balance between all of these components.” Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of a soil to function as a vital [...]

  • What happens when trade agreements are renegotiated?

    U.S. agricultural exports have been larger than U.S. agricultural imports since 1960, generating a surplus in U.S. agricultural trade. This surplus helps counter the persistent deficit in non-agricultural U.S. merchandise trade. At the same [...]