Cool Temperatures and Corn Yield

Posted on 07/25/2014 by Dennis Todey

The most recent Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin on Wednesday 23 July included the following image on corn conditions across the Corn Belt. Note that since 1995 only one other year has had a higher overall corn condition rating at this point in the growing season – 2004.

Source: Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin: http://www.usda.gov/oce/weather/pubs/Weekly/Wwcb/wwcb.pdf

This image clearly shows the impact of the overall cooler temperatures this summer. While the cool weather has been attracting some media attention for the lack of mid-summer heat, for the most part the cool has been very good for crop conditions over the bulk of the Corn Belt. Where moisture is not limited the crop has been able to grow well. Where moisture has been limited the reduced atmospheric demands of the cooler temperatures has reduced potential stress and allowed much of the corn crop to pass through tasseling with limited stress. Note that 2004 – the then-record yield – was also a very cool summer.

Even when conditions have warmed, they have been short-lived and often accompanied by high dew points, additionally reducing the atmospheric demand on crops.

The next question becomes – can we put on enough GDDs to get the crop to reach maturity in time? The current 6-10 and 8-14 day outlooks stay cool. The previous blog post by Jim Angel talked about the outlook for the rest of the growing season.

Trying for a more resilient farming

Posted on 07/09/2014 by Chad Ingels

Dick Sloan evaluates corn no-tilled planted into cover crop mix of winter wheat, cereal rye and hairy vetch.

The following post was written by Charles Wittman, a communication specialist for the ISU Extension Watershed Projects in northeast Iowa following a recent field day at the farm of Richard (Dick) Sloan near Rowley, IA. Dick is a member of the Sustainable Corn Project’s advisory board, chairman of the Lime Creek Watershed Council and a Practical Farmers of Iowa Outreach Leader.

Dick Sloan provided a glimpse into his evolution as a conservationist farmer along with an update of his no-till and cover crop farming practices at a June 19 Lime Creek field day.

“(I am) trying for a more resilient farming,” he told the 66 attending the Practical Farmers of Iowa sponsored event. Unfortunately, heavy rain (nearly 2 inches) and cracks of thunder kept the crowd inside the machine shed, preventing most from getting a close-up view of the practices. Continue reading →

Climate Camp 2014

Posted on 06/30/2014 by Chad Ingels

The following post is by guest blogger Amanda Hoover. Amanda is an agriculture teacher and FFA advisor at Continental Local Schools in Continental, Ohio. She is a graduate of South Dakota State University, one of the 10 partner institutions involved in the Sustainable Corn Project. You can follow Amanda on Twitter: twitter.com/MsAHoover. To learn more about how our Education team is training the next generation of scientists, developing science education curricula and promoting learning opportunities for high school teachers and students through this USDA-NIFA funded project click here.

For many kids, summertime means camp time. During June 2014, this was true for some of their teachers, too! Twenty science and agriculture teachers, including myself, met on the campus of Iowa State University campus for Climate Camp.

Sponsored by the Sustainable Corn Project, the camp was a great opportunity for teachers, climate experts, and sustainable agriculture experts to network and learn from one another. One of my favorite things about being an agriculture teacher is the ‘family’ atmosphere within the profession. I love attending events to not only meet other Ag teachers, but also to learn from them. Having the chance to interact with science teachers, and helping them understand the vast connections between science and agriculture, and how they can incorporate ag into their curricula, was an added bonus! Continue reading →

Working for a more Resilient Agriculture

Posted on 06/13/2014 by Chad Ingels

On June 3 a strong storm system moved across Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois with large hail and heavy rain. The storm was significant enough to make the national news with the National Weather Service reporting large hail, winds up to 85 mph and rainfall in excess of 4 inches.

Storm Prediction Center – http://www.spc.noaa.gov/

The Iowa Daily Erosion Project showed localized soil erosion nearing 7 tons per acre from this one storm event in southwest Iowa.

Iowa Daily Erosion Project – June 3, 2014

The soil loss was so significant that Jon Bakehouse, a southwest Iowa farmer, was moved to write the following on the Practical Farmers of Iowa cover crop listserve. Continue reading →

What would the return of El Niño mean for Midwestern farmers?

Posted on 05/22/2014 by Lynn Laws

Check out Jim Angel’s article regarding predictions of the possible return of El Niño this summer and what it could mean for the Midwest, on his blog at The Climate Observer.

Want to know more about climate patterns like this? U2U is in the final stages of developing a farmer-decision tool called Climate Patterns Viewer. It will provide a series of simple maps showing the impact of global climate patterns like El Niño on Midwestern temperature, precipitation and corn yields. They expect to release it this summer. If you are interested in testing this tool please contact Melissa Widhalm at mwidhalm at purdue dot edu.

Web-based Corn Growing Degree Day Tool helps with planting decisions

Posted on 05/12/2014 by Marilyn Thelen

Another cool wet spring in Michigan leaves farmers waiting for good conditions to plant crops. Variable weather in the spring always dictates planting schedules. This year is no different. Recently a web-based decision tools was developed that allows farmers to compare current conditions to a 30-year historical perspective. Using historical climatology based data, the tool offers trend projections through the end of the growing season.

The U2U Decision Support Tool for Corn Growing Degree Days (GDD) allows the producer to select their geographic area; the start date for GDD, this could be the date corn is planted or emerges; the year the grower would like to compare to; corn maturity days; and the temperature for killing frost (28F). Continue reading →

Is there an advantage to early soybean planting?

Posted on 05/01/2014 by Melissa Widhalm

Selecting an early versus late planting date could have implications for water availability and plant stress throughout the growing season. U2U team members Tapan Pathak and Roger Elmore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln looked at the potential advantage of early soybean planting from a climatology perspective. Read all about their findings in Nebraska Crop Watch.

Water Chat

Posted on 03/12/2014 by Chad Ingels

Water is an extremely valuable input in agriculture, whether delivered through rain, snow or irrigation. This fact was made very apparent during the kickoff presentation at the recent Iowa Water Conference. In his presentation Water Issues in the Developing World, Dick Schultz (Iowa State University) detailed the different sources of water in our world. While it seems that there is “water, water, everywhere”, only 3% of the world’s water is fresh water, the balance resides in the oceans.

Of that fresh water, 69% is in glaciers, 30% is groundwater, 0.3% lakes, 0.06% soil moisture, 0.04% in the atmosphere, 0.06% in rivers and 0.003% in the biosphere. He went on to point out that 50% of the fresh water is in 6 areas: Canada, Russia, Tibet, Columbia, Brazil and Indonesia.

Water has been a hot topic in the US news with stories of the California drought, an extremely snowy winter in the east and nutrient reduction strategies in the Midwest. A quick look at the Drought Monitor shows that drought conditions extend from California to Illinois. Continue reading →

Waiting for Spring

Posted on 03/04/2014 by Jim Angel

This winter has been significantly colder than average across the Corn Belt. The December-February temperatures were 9 to 12 degrees below average across Minnesota, Wisconsin, eastern Iowa, and northern Illinois. The rest of the Corn Belt was 6 to 9 degrees below average (map below). In addition, snowfall for the winter season was above average in the eastern two-thirds of the Corn Belt and near to slightly below average in the western third.

Temperature departures for the period December 1, 2013 to March 1, 2014 for the central US. Click to enlarge.

The results of this cold and snowy winter are that we have: 1) a significant snowpack in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and in much of northern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio (see snow depth map below) and 2) frozen soils across much of the northern two-thirds of the Corn Belt.

Snow depth (inches) as reported on the morning of March 4, 2014. Click to enlarge.

It will take some time for the snow to melt and the soils to warm up and dry out. The latest forecasts from the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center indicate that colder than average conditions will prevail for at least the next two weeks. A slow melt is desirable at this point in order to reduce the risk of flooding on rivers and streams.

Soil moisture was in good shape going into winter in much of the eastern Corn Belt, but was below average in parts of the western Corn Belt. It remains to be seen how much of the snow melt will actually go towards recharging the soil moisture in those areas. It is likely that that the frozen soils will inhibit the recharge in many instances.

While there are concerns of a slow start to the growing season due to the cold weather, circumstances could change rapidly, as they often do in the Midwest. A few weeks of warm weather and sunshine in April could put us back on track.

Maps are courtesy of the Midwestern Regional Climate Center, Illinois State Water Survey and the University of Illinois.

Drought issues returning

Posted on 09/06/2013 by Dennis Todey

The most recent US Drought Monitor map shows drought returning to larger parts of the Corn Belt in the last few weeks. This has been driven by warm temperatures over the last part of August. Dryness has existed across parts of IA, MN and SD over the middle part of the summer. But cool temperatures during that same period had reduced the stress on crops. With the return of warm temperatures in the latter part of August, the dry areas began showing stress quickly.

Areas of Iowa and Missouri have degraded to D2-Severe Drought with surrounding areas of SD, MN, and IA with D1 – Moderate Drought.

In some ways the heat in the latter part of August was welcomed in pushing crops along to development. But the extended period of heat without moisture is stressing crops, pushing some to early maturity and browning.

Large parts of the central part of the corn belt are watching for freezing conditions because of the late development. We will post more about that as information becomes available.

sustainablecorn.org BLOG

Conversations on our research, crop resiliency and climate in the Corn Belt

Category Archives: Uncategorized