Reducing chemicals and growing corn…
Pesticide use in Nebraska's corn fields has been cut in half. According to a report from the Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Service, corn farmers in the state have cut pesticide application from two-point-six million pounds in 1996 to one-point-three million pounds in 2000.
It is unclear what caused the reduction. Theories include financial belt-tightening, reduction in acres planted to corn, and increased use of genetically altered corn varieties which produce their own pesticide.