The local Syngenta team and a Missouri corn grower teamed up to help needy families in central Missouri by donating 1,041 pounds of sweet corn to The Food Bank of Central & Northeast Missouri.
The sweet corn was grown through a collaboration with Syngenta, which supplied the seed, and Jay Fischer, a Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) member and farmer from Jefferson City, Missouri. Fischer planted about 1 acre, which grew enough corn to feed 130 families. The Food Bank of Central & Northeast Missouri, a regional disaster and hunger relief network that acquires and distributes millions of pounds of donated food annually, accepted the donation.
The outreach is just one example of how Syngenta is working to improve the lives of those in rural communities. In September 2013, Syngenta launched The Good Growth Plan to help farmers across the world grow more food using fewer resources, while protecting nature and improving life for people in rural communities.
“We were proud to partner with MCGA and grower Jay Fischer to provide top-quality sweet corn to food banks in Missouri. With each bushel of corn, we helped feed others,” said Bradley Hoene, Syngenta sales representative, Eureka, Missouri. “Through this partnership, we demonstrated the contributions that local organizations, along with Syngenta, can make to greatly improve the lives of those in our communities.”
“While our members typically grow field corn for feed, ethanol and exports, this sweet corn partnership gave us the opportunity to reach out to families struggling to make ends meet,” said MCGA Director of Grower Services Matt Amick. “We are proud our members chose to be partners in this event and help provide fresh produce to community members in need.”
The program also was rolled out in Norborne and Marthasville earlier this summer. Protector sweet corn seed with Attribute® II trait stack, donated by Syngenta for this program, produces, clean, delicious produce by controlling destructive insects, including corn earworm, black cutworm and western bean cutworm. These are the same pest protection benefits found in field corn with an Agrisure Viptera® trait.