Study: Midwest Can Expect Rainier, More Violent Springs, Hotter Drier Summers, Lots Of Irrigation

[hatrack]

EDIT

Today, average corn yields across the Midwest are roughly 170 bushels per acre, DeLucia said. This is up from about 120 bushels per acre in 1990. “If this trend continues, the projected yield in 2050 would be 230-240 bushels per acre averaged across the Midwest,” he said. “If you want more corn, then you have to have a bigger plant, and a bigger plant is going to use more water.”

Precipitation is not expected to increase enough in the Midwest to compensate for the drying conditions of the warmer atmosphere, the researchers found. “We are getting more intense storms in the spring and less rain in the late summer,” DeLucia said. But the overall amount of precipitation is not expected to change much in the coming decades. Even without increases in plant size and productivity, warming conditions alone will necessitate a much greater demand for water, the team found.

“We show that as vapor pressure deficit increases, maintaining current maize yields will require a large expansion of irrigation, greater than threefold, in areas currently supported by rain,” the researchers wrote.

Some strategies can help counter the drying conditions, DeLucia said. The use of minimum tillage and mulches can reduce the rate of water loss from the soil. And breeding or genetically modifying plants to sequester more chlorophyll in their lower leaves and less in the top will allow photosynthesis to proceed more efficiently closer to the ground, where conditions are more humid. This will lessen the amount of moisture lost when plants open the pores in their leaves to take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. A research effort to do this is underway in the laboratory of U. of I. plant biology professor Donald Ort.

EDIT

https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/799457

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. Genitically modified crops are also causing a lot of health issues in the process....

Which is why next year, my now treeless backyard is going to have a nice garden with non GMO plants. Chemical Fertilizers and Pesticides used in Agriculture are showing up in the human body in larger numbers. Especially more vicious forms of cancer.

[mopinko]

2. these springs are proving brutal. cold and no sunshine.

they are totally killing me here in chicago.
the rains are bad. i had a grapevine that was 25 years old that didnt come back this year. it drowned.
a younger one nearby has 2 leaves.

the clouds are just insane. literally blotting out the sun to below useful levels.
i have flats of tomato seedlings that have been outside for over a month, and they have almost zero growth.
not quite done planting, but it is hard to get motivated when the seedlings that are in the greenhouse still are 4x the ones that are in the ground.

pepper plants are going chlorotic.
i havent even bothered planting beans or squash, as the seeds will likely rot.
fungi are going bananas.

it became really clear to me this spring that w/o a good year round indoor grow space, this place is never gonna reach it's potential.
early reporting said that i was in a bit of a sweet spot, climate wise. high above sea level, not prone to big storms, a little warmer in chicago would be welcome.
but w/o sunshine, i am, and we all are, well and truly fucked.

[NickB79]

3. Sounds like ideal conditions for permaculturecrops

Hybrid hazels and chestnuts can generate as many calories per acre as corn and soy, but thrive in adverse conditions that would kill row crops.