Robb Rynd and his brother grew up farming and wanted to do more of it outside their day jobs, so they went in toget
, soybeans, wheat and sorghum. Last year was a good year, and Rynd said he enjoyed walking the fields with his kids to see how the corn was doing.
This year is a different story.
All summer he’s been scouting for brown and wilting leaves or ears of corn with kernels missing, and now it’s becoming clear that every kernel will count this
harvest. “It’s almost kind of depressing to go out there and look at it and say, ‘oh yep, it does look bad,'” he said.
Across major corn-growing states, climate change is fueling conditions that make watching the corn grow a
nail-biter for farmers. Factors like consistently high summer overnight temperatures, droughts and heavier-than-usua
l rains at the wrong time can all disrupt the plants’ pollination — making each full ear of corn less of a guarantee and more of a gamble.
Overall, corn growers got lucky this year with late-season weather that contributed to what is now predicted to be a record bumper crop. But experts say bouts of extr
eme weather are intensifying the waiting game during a critical time of year between planting and harvest.
Human-caused climate change has worsened multiple U.S. extrem
e heat events this year and has steadily increased the likelihood of hotter overnight temperatures since 1970, according to C
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limate Central, an independent group of scientists who communicate climate science and data to the public.
“The hot nights too, like the corn’s never getting a break. It’s just hot all the time,” Rynd said. “I know it’s wearing on me.”
How excessive heat and rainfall can impact corn pollination
As a corn plant grows, the leaves unroll to reveal the tassel, the par
t that sheds pollen, explained Mark Licht, an associate professor of agronomy and an extension crop
ping systems specialist at Iowa State University. If the plant grows too fast, which can happen when it’s consistentl
y very hot, the tassel may be wrapped too tightly by the leaf, meaning less pollen gets released.
That can lead to patchy ears of corn. Tight tassel wrap was reported in pockets across parts of the Midwest and the
Plains, according to some agricultural trade publication reports durin
g the growing season. Licht said he’d only seen tassel wrapping issues once before in his 20 years as an agronomist.
High temperatures can stress corn in other ways, lowering pollen production, reducing pollen’s viability or drying out other parts of the plants, reducing fertility
. “I think any of the pollination issues that we might be having are more because the nights have been so exceedingly warm,” said Larry Walton, who farms near Rynd in southwestern Michigan, where many farmers irrigate because it’s a drier area.
“We tend to see pollination issues being more problematic when we have high temperatures and drought conditions or lack of rainfall,” Licht said. Yet Iowa had plenty of rain and still saw some pollination issues. Excessive moisture can cause corn smut, a type of fungus that grows on the ears.
He said farmers are having to pay more attention to this because “there’s just more variable weather.”