A giant in North Carolina agriculture recently retired from active work, but his legacy lives on thanks to an initiative by the Corn Growers Association of North Carolina, NC State Extension corn specialist, Dr Ron Heiniger, assisted farmers of the state for more than 30 years before officially retiring on April 1. Rhonda garrison is the executive director of the North Carolina Corn Growers.

“Just because he’s no longer on the NC State payroll as an active professor, I anticipate he will work a fair chunk of this year. His son Ryan is actually the OVT (Official Variety Testing) director (and) is actually the one that is officially handling corn this year, but it will be with his dad right behind him.”

Rhonda says Heiniger took corn production in the state to a whole new level.

“When he first came here in 1994, corn production in North Carolina was averaging 90 bushels an acre. (Now), Exclusive of 2024, North Carolina was averaging around 135 bushels an acre of corn production, and a lot of that is due to Ron Heiniger management practices that he has developed over the years. Just about every talk the man gives, somebody will invariably walk up to him and tell him, ‘Thank you for all you have done. You saved my farm.’”

In honor of Dr. Heiniger, the Corn Growers of North Carolina is endowing a chair in his honor.

“We instituted the fundraising for the endowment in June of ’23, but it has largely been funded by Corn Growers of NC. At the end of this month, we’ll have enough money in that endowment to take to the General Assembly for their matching funds, and so we hope to have that endowment fully funded by the end of this year.”

Funds are continuing to be raised to ensure there will be a corn specialist for North Carolina in perpetuity. You can find more information and make a donation at NCcorngrowers.com.