The Daily Illini recently highlighted and followed up on a press release from the American Agriculturalist on climate change and its affects on crops. From the Daily Illini last week:
Farmers adapt to changing Illinois weather patternsMore at the full article here. Press release information here.
The corn yields in Illinois are increasing at a rapid pace, showing a trend towards an increase of two bushels an acre per year due to changes in Illinois weather trends and temperatures, said Eric Snodgrass, atmospheric sciences professor at the University.
“We are actually getting more annual precipitation coming in the form of big rainfall events. We on average receive here in Illinois about 40 inches of rain a year; we’re starting to see that more of those 40 inches of rain are coming from big events, followed by longer dry spells,” Snodgrass said.
According to the press release, the percentage of rainfall occurring in very heavy events has increased dramatically over the past 55 years, especially in the Northeast. Illinois’ heavy rainfall has increased by 37 percent...
On average, the nighttime temperature has warmed up about a degree to a degree and a half. Snodgrass said this could pose a problem, but the changes are not yet substantial enough to really affect crop yields.
Farmers are already adapting to these changes. Snodgrass said to help mitigate the effects of increased heavy rainfall, they use a technique known as field tiling, which utilizes a corrugated plastic under the fields to let the excess water drain out of the soil. However, not all of the changes might be harmful towards crops.
“Changes in temperature are actually very beneficial. We used to not plant the crop in Illinois until May, or the middle of May. Now we can plant our crops in the middle of April, end of April,” Snodgrass said. “And the earlier we plant them, the bigger and better, the higher the yields are.”
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