Crops Need The Forecasted Rain

Jun 22, 2016

By Angie Peltier

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor's June 14 report, the Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center (NWIARDC) outside of Monmouth is part of the 36 percent of Illinois that is considered abnormally dry (Figure). This is the designation that is typically precedes a drought declaration.

The below average rainfall totals and above average high and low temperatures along with continued and increasing crop demand have combined to result in these abnormally dry conditions.

June 1 through June 20, 2016: Soil moisture. Soil moisture is measure by the Illinois State Water Survey's (ISWS) Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring (WARM) program at the NWIARDC at 2, 4, 8, 20, 40 and 60 inch depths under bare soil. They present soil moisture data in water fraction by volume (wfv) units, which can be better understood by comparing values to the field capacity and wilting point associated with the soil type.

According to the ISWS,

"Field capacity is roughly defined as the amount of water a soil can hold before draining. At field capacity, the pores of the soil contain both air and water. It is not the same as saturation in which the soil's pores are completely filled with water.

The wilting point refers to when a soil dries to a point that it is difficult for plants to extract water and so the plants wilt. The soil still contains moisture in its smallest pores, but plants are unable to access it.

The difference between the soil's field capacity and wilting point is considered the plant water available. The closer the soil moisture value is to field capacity, the more water is available for plant use. The closer the value is to the wilting point, the less water is available."

At the NWIARDC, the silt loam soils have a field capacity of 0.36 wfv and a wilting point of 0.14 wfv. Plotting the soil moisture values at 2 and 4 inches under bare soil shows how close the soils are to the wilting point (Figure). We are seeing stressed corn plants in those fields that were planted later in May. The root systems of these plants are likely not as well developed as those planted earlier and would therefore not be as able to access water and nutrients further down in the soil profile (Figure).

June 1 through June 20, 2016: Air temperature. One can compare the daily average high and low temperatures for the first 20 days of June, 2016 to the same time period of the previous 10 years and the 30-year normal temperatures for June (Figure). During this period 2016 has had hotter average high temperatures than both the 30-year normal and any of the past 10 years. The average daily low temperatures during this period were hotter than the 30-year normal, but were lower than the same period in 2010.

Regardless of how 2016 compares to other recent years, we could sure use some rain.

Source:illinois.edu

Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”