By admin 
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – For one Nebraska farmer, celebrating the Fourth of July means leaving a message for the world to see from above.
Read more Why Phoenix isn’t fining hikers who ignore heat trail closures
Broc Brune has been farming his entire life. Five years ago, he decided to let his soybeans do the talking.
“We started out that first year with the Husker block N. And we didn’t know what to expect. And all of a sudden I flew the drone up and it showed up really well. Every year we kind of tried to push the detail a little farther,” Brune said.
This year’s design
This year, Brune’s 70 acres in Dodge, Nebraska, became his most complicated canvas to date — an American flag with an eagle head.
“I designed this image myself with the flag and the eagle head. And my brother, Jake, he put that image into our planting software and just created a planting prescription for us,” Brune said.
Brune planted the soybeans in late April, knowing it was a race against time to have the design visible by the Fourth of July.
Read more Pocket Fire smoke could threaten Verde Valley wine harvest
How it works
The design is created entirely through row spacing, with no impact on crop yield.
“Just the difference in the two shades of green is simply just row spacing. 30-inch rows and 15-inch rows. And the 15-inch rows show up as a lighter hue of green. And the 30-inch rows are the darker green,” Brune said.
His planter and GPS serve as his tools. Brune says the design process does not affect the harvest.
Proving it’s real
With the rise of AI-generated images, Brune says convincing people the design is real has become part of the challenge.
“That’s the tough part nowadays with AI. Most people look at stuff like this and say it’s just AI-generated. But that’s why on social media, I posted a little six-second clip showing up close of the soybean rows so that they could visually see what’s actually going on down at ground level,” Brune said.
Read more Cloudy Fourth of July with returning heat and rain chances next week
Brune says he is already thinking about what to do next year.