Corn in a changing climate
The past year has not been kind to corn. Though it has long been the nation’s largest crop, the one-two punch of historic drought and record-high temperatures in July and August combined to damage U.S. corn crops, which fell by as much as 13 percent. Previous studies have suggested that weather-related damage is linked to climate change, and have warned that losses like those of the past year could become the norm by 2030. But the effects of weather and climate can differ because the latter can be adapted to more readily. Through analyzing U.S. corn yields and weather variability, graduate student Ethan Butler and Peter Huybers, professor of Earth and planetary sciences, found that corn is well adapted to local climates, with hot temperatures in the deep South reducing yield only half as much as the same temperatures in the far North. They found that a 2-degree Celsius warming would reduce...