Dry Weather In August May Decrease Yield Potential Of Missouri Crops

Sep 10, 2015

By William J. Wiebold

Wet spring weather is the gift that keeps on giving. Wet weather during and after planting increases the possibilities of soil compaction and root diseases. These lead to smaller and less healthy root systems on corn and soybean plants. Smaller root systems means that plants are more vulnerable to dry weather during grain-fill. A scenario that is most detrimental to grain-crop yield is a wet spring followed by dry weather during grain filling. Weather conditions that include bright sun, warm temperatures, low relative humidity, and wind increases water demand by plants. If roots are small or unhealthy they cannot supply enough water and plants become stressed. Stress during grain filling reduces yield.

Normally, July weather affects corn yield and early to mid-August weather affects soybean yield. But, with delayed planting in 2015 the most influential periods have shifted two to four weeks later than normal. So, precipitation amounts throughout August will influence corn and soybean yields this year.

The following graph presents precipitation amounts for August in five counties distributed among corn and soybean production areas of Missouri. For good to excellent grain yields, about 1.2 inches of rain are required each week during grain-fill. Only two location received more than 2.4 inches in early August. None of these five locations received adequate precipitation in the last half of August. Northeast Missouri, including Audrain County, has been especially dry. This region is more vulnerable to drought stress because soils in a large portion of the region contain a clay-pan that restricts water drainage in spring and reduces root depth throughout the growing season.

We had hoped that the unusually wet spring this year would be followed by above average precipitation in August. Unfortunately, that is not the scenario that has occurred in much of Missouri in 2015. Delayed planting reduces yield potential, but the amount of lost yield can be greatly reduced if Mother Nature cooperates. However, less than average August rainfall occurred in parts of Missouri. Drought stress symptoms on plants are common in Missouri fields, especially where soil holds less plant available water because soil texture (too much clay or sand) of compaction. Rain that falls this week will help, but yield potential has probably decreased because of dry August weather.

Source: missouri.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.

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“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?”

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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.

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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.”

Dry Weather In August May Decrease Yield Potential Of Missouri Crops

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

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