Since 1974, the year I started farming, advances in technology have allowed me and the rest of American agriculture to continually improve the relationship between farming and the environment.
Biotechnology holds the promise of incredible improvement.
Allow me to share some examples from my own farm in central Illinois. In '74, I used 190 lbs of supplemental N of NH3. All 150 lbs of supplemental N came from ammomium sulfate, a byproduct of the corn processing industry, which was recycled on that field. In '74, it took 113 hours and 865 gallons of fuel to farm the 80 acres. In '94, the same field took 23 hours and 147 gallons of fuel.