Climate Change Makes Farmers Chase New Planting Windows

A farmer climbs into a combine. (Credit: USDA/Lance Cheung) Most people think of frost as a farmer’s worst nightmare. But for corn growers in Illinois, there’s little worse than a warm, soggy spring. Rainfall can soak soft prairie soils and rot the kernels before they can grow. If the rains keep farmers from their fields long enough, crop yields start to plummet. Rain can also wash away herbicides, pushing growers to apply more. For years, this fear has driven farmers to plant earlier and earlier. Late April used to be the prime planting window. This year, weather permitting, many will begin planting this week. Emerson Nafziger, University of Illinois extension specialist, says each year he hears stories of people planting earlier than the last. Some of those are just tales for the coffee shop, he says. This year he heard rumors of people planting in February. But he’s seen the ...