{"id":4089,"date":"2014-07-14T14:12:46","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T18:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/?p=4089"},"modified":"2025-06-11T13:14:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T17:14:44","slug":"reducing-risks-to-corn-production-requires-a-supply-chain-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2014\/07\/14\/reducing-risks-to-corn-production-requires-a-supply-chain-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Reducing risks to corn production requires a supply chain solution"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_4095\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4095\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/52\/files\/2014\/07\/corn1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4095\" alt=\"Photo: \u00a9 John Rae \" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/52\/files\/2014\/07\/corn1-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/52\/files\/2014\/07\/corn1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/52\/files\/2014\/07\/corn1.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4095\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: \u00a9 John Rae<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Corn is our country\u2019s biggest crop economically and takes up nearly one-third of U.S. cropland. It is a pillar of our food production system \u2013 a key ingredient in everything from drinks, sauces and snack foods to dairy products, fuel and meat.<\/p>\n<p>So when news about corn\u2019s risky future pops up, we should <i>all<\/i> take note, and the entire agricultural supply chain should work toward solutions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ceres.org\/issues\/water\/agriculture\/the-cost-of-corn\"><i>Water &amp; Climate Risks Facing U.S. Corn Production<\/i><\/a>, produced by the nonprofit sustainability advocate Ceres, is the latest analysis to sound the warning bell.<\/p>\n<p>Last year U.S. corn growers harvested a record 14 billion bushels of corn, making them among the most productive farmers in the world (this year\u2019s harvest is expected to be huge as well). But climate change and groundwater depletion are threatening to undermine corn\u2019s success as global demand increases. Inefficient fertilizer use is compounding the problem.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><strong>According to the Ceres report:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a087 percent of irrigated U.S. corn is grown in regions with high water stress, meaning there is limited additional water available for irrigation expansion.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a027 percent of rain-fed corn is grown in regions with high water stress, which limits water availability should climate change make irrigation necessary.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Midwestern agricultural communities faced a 45-percent increase in extreme precipitation events between 1958 and 2011, elevating the risks of dangerous floods.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Severe weather has already contributed to a steady uptick and unprecedented volatility in corn prices \u2013 from $2 a bushel a decade ago to a record $8 a bushel during the devastating 2012 drought.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThis volatility has vast implications for the many industries that rely on corn,\u201d the report says. \u201cHigh corn prices in the wake of extreme flooding in spring 2011 and the prolonged drought in 2012 shuttered ethanol plants, contributed to the culling of beef herds, and reduced margins for many processed food and beverage companies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cities are also feeling the impacts of corn production, which uses the most fertilizer of all major U.S. crops. Fertilizer run-off from crops pollutes water and causes dead zones downstream. The USDA estimates that large water utilities spend more than $4.8 billion per year on removing nitrate from U.S. drinking water supplies.<\/p>\n<p><b>What Can Be Done<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The Ceres report might paint a bleak picture. But I\u2019m optimistic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Farmers across the U.S. have made significant conservation improvements over the past few decades.<\/strong> EDF has worked with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edf.org\/ecosystems\/helping-farmers-fight-ecological-dead-zones\">farmer networks<\/a> in 12 states to improve efficiency and reduce fertilizer loss on more than a half million acres, and that work is rapidly expanding.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Meanwhile, retail giants like Walmart are getting into the act.<\/strong> Last fall, the company launched a <a href=\"http:\/\/business.edf.org\/projects\/featured\/sustainable-supply-chains-and-walmart\/greening-agricultural-supply-chains\/\">GHG-reduction initiative<\/a> that requires vendors using commodity grains in their products to submit fertilizer efficiency plans. Fertilizer not absorbed by crops emits a power greenhouse gas \u2013 which Walmart identified as the top GHG hotspot in nearly half of its top 100 products.<\/p>\n<p>To date, 15 <strong>major suppliers<\/strong> \u2013 representing 30 percent of food and beverage sales in North America \u2013 have developed fertilizer optimization plans. Among those vendors are General Mills, Coca-Cola and <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2014\/05\/22\/smithfield-foods-worlds-largest-pork-producer-works-with-edf-to-cut-emissions\/\">Smithfield<\/a>, the world\u2019s largest pork producer.<\/p>\n<p>More work needs to be done to engage the entire supply chain, but the momentum is growing.<\/p>\n<p>In the past few months, I\u2019ve met with <strong>grain buyers and agribusinesses<\/strong> that see the financial value in helping corn and grain farmers become more sustainable. And <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fieldtomarket.org\/\">Field to Market<\/a>, a multi-stakeholder supply chain alliance, recently launched a program \u2013 which EDF helped to develop \u2013 for measuring, promoting and reporting on sustainability improvements in commodity crops.<\/p>\n<p>Corn touches us all, which means we have no time to waste in reducing its risks. And I do mean \u201cwe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Consumers, retailers and food companies need to increase demand for sustainable grain products, while farmers and agribusiness need to increase supply.<\/p>\n<p>We need a system that provides economic benefits to farmers who improve input efficiency, soil health and yields while simultaneously increasing their own resilience to extreme weather. And we need mainstream agriculture to become and be recognized as a major contributor to the elimination of aquatic dead zones, improved drinking water quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n<p>We all have a role to play, so let\u2019s go get the job done!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Corn is our country\u2019s biggest crop economically and takes up nearly one-third of U.S. cropland. It is a pillar of our food production system \u2013 a key ingredient in everything from drinks, sauces and snack foods to dairy products, fuel and meat. So when news about corn\u2019s risky future pops up, we should all take &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45788,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120554],"tags":[234,64440,84754,64885,57127,190,64585,64985,57126,64228,39994],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","tag-agriculture-tag","tag-ceres","tag-climate-tag","tag-commodity-crops","tag-corn","tag-drought","tag-field-to-market","tag-grains","tag-smithfield","tag-supply-chain-2","tag-walmart"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15601,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4089\/revisions\/15601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4089"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}