Study: U.S. Corn Farmers Planting Earlier
Posted on: Wednesday, 4 October 2006, 18:00 CDT
U.S. corn belt farmers are planting seeds much earlier in the year than they did 30 years ago, a new agronomy science study has found.
Christopher Kucharik, an associate terrestrial ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studied three decades of planting records and discovered farmers in 12 U.S. states now put corn into the ground about two weeks earlier than they did during the late 1970s.
Earlier plantings -- which mean longer growing seasons -- have likely contributed to the increasing corn yields of recent decades. But Kucharik warns the trend can only continue for so long.
Earlier plantings really can't continue forever because, ultimately, farmers will have to contend with wintertime conditions and frozen soils, said Kucharik. Several decades from now we might see an unexpected drop in annual yield increases when this trend plateaus, which could then increase the threat to our food supply.
The Corn Belt is a major agricultural region of the U.S. Midwest, centered in Iowa and Illinois. The belt extends into Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
Kucharik details his findings in the current issue of the Agronomy Journal.
Source: United Press International
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