Hi, I’m Aaron Blase. My wife, Chandra and I own and operate a farm in central Nebraska called Blase N Acres. I know that my duty as a farmer is not only to provide for my family but also provide for the world. For the last few years I have been trying to produce products on my farm that the people of the nation can eat and relate to.

Traditionally we raise corn and soybeans. Our traditional corn is not the kind you would buy in the store, unless you are buying cornmeal to make cornbread. Most of our corn goes to our local ethanol plant that is only 10 miles away. There, they grind the corn up, mix it with water, add yeast just like baking bread, and out of that comes ethanol to power your car, corn oil to cook with, and distillers grains (the rest of the mashed up corn that is left over) that mainly gets used to feed cows in our area. Our soybeans usually end up at a company that squeezes out the oil from the seeds to make vegetable oil (can also be used in diesel vehicles like our tractors and the semi that hauls food to your town) and what is left goes to feed all kinds of animals like fish, pigs, and chickens.

In order to produce relatable products, I started raising non-gmo yellow corn that went straight to a business making tortillas and chips (the yellow chips you buy), white corn (the white chips you buy, which have a more mellow flavor), and plenish soybeans (when squeezed makes a healthier cooking oil).

After a lot of thought I realized that farm ground doesn’t have to raise a crop every year as long as we are using it to benefit humanity. Farmers harvest sunlight. We help the good Lord change sunlight into something we can use. With Heal An Acre, I’m trying to harvest sunlight by storing carbon in our soils and fighting pesticide resistant weeds through the use of cover crops. This builds up a robust ecosystem in the soil with all the microbes as well as a robust ecosystem for the larger world around me. By giving our fields a year or two to focus on themselves we are turning sunlight into something great and usable, like carbon and nutrients in the soil. We are also giving our fields the armor that can protect them from challenging weather conditions in the future. We are ensuring that when our fields go back to work they can perform like never before!