Current:Home > ContactSweaty corn is making it even more humid -Stellar Financial Insights
Sweaty corn is making it even more humid
View
Date:2025-04-17 17:02:12
Barb Boustead remembers learning about corn sweat when she moved to Nebraska about 20 years ago to work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and found herself plunked down in an ocean of corn. The term for the late-summer spike in humidity from corn plants cooling themselves was “something that locals very much know about,” Boustead, a meteorologist and climatologist, recalled.
But this hallmark of Midwestern summer might be growing stickier thanks to climate change and the steady march of industrial agriculture. Climate change is driving warmer temperatures and warmer nights and allowing the atmosphere to hold more moisture. It’s also changed growing conditions, allowing farmers to plant corn further north and increasing the total amount of corn in the United States.
Farmers are also planting more acres of corn, in part to meet demand for ethanol, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service. It all means more plants working harder to stay cool — pumping out humidity that adds to steamy misery like that blanketing much of the U.S. this week.
Storm clouds build above a corn field Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, near Platte City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
It’s especially noticeable in the Midwest because so much corn is grown there and it all reaches the stage of evapotranspiration at around the same time, so “you get that real surge there that’s noticeable,” Boustead said.
Dennis Todey directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Midwest Climate Hub, which works to help producers adapt to climate change. He said corn does most of its evapotranspiration — the process of drawing water up from the soil, using it for its needs and then releasing it into the air in the form of vapor — in July, rather than August.
He said soybeans tend to produce more vapor than corn in August.
Storm clouds build as corn grows on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, near Platte City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Todey said more study is necessary to understand how climate change will shape corn sweat, saying rainfall, crop variety and growing methods can all play a part.
But for Lew Ziska, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University who has studied the effects of climate change on crops, warmer conditions mean more transpiration. Asked whether more corn sweat is an effect of climate change, he said simply, “Yes.”
He also noted increasing demand for corn to go into ethanol. Over 40% of corn grown in the U.S. is turned into biofuels that are eventually guzzled by cars and sometimes even planes. The global production of ethanol has been steadily increasing with the exception of a dip during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the Renewable Fuels Association.
Storm clouds build above a corn field Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, near Platte City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
The consumption of ethanol also contributes to planet-warming emissions.
“It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that it’s been getting hotter. And as a result of it getting hotter, plants are losing more water,” Ziska said.
___
Follow Melina Walling on X at @MelinaWalling.
___
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
veryGood! (864)
Related
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Solar Energy Boom Sets New Records, Shattering Expectations
- Save $300 on This Stylish Coach Outlet Tote Bag With 1,400+ 5-Star Reviews
- Inside Halle Bailey’s Enchanting No-Makeup Makeup Look for The Little Mermaid
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- Some Fourth of July celebrations are easier to afford in 2023 — here's where inflation is easing
- Simone Biles is returning to competition in August for her first event since Tokyo Olympics
- Q&A: Oceanographers Tell How the Pandemic Crimps Global Ocean and Climate Monitoring
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Climate Change Could Bring Water Bankruptcy With Grave Consequences
Ranking
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Closing America’s Climate Gap Between Rich and Poor
- World People’s Summit Calls for a Climate Justice Tribunal
- Disaster Displacement Driving Millions into Exile
- The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
- Bruce Willis’ Daughter Tallulah Shares Emotional Details of His “Decline” With Dementia
- Launched to great fanfare a few years ago, Lordstown Motors is already bankrupt
- Microgrids Keep These Cities Running When the Power Goes Out
Recommendation
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Can air quality affect skin health? A dermatologist explains as more Canadian wildfire smoke hits the U.S.
Canada’s Tar Sands Province Elects a Combative New Leader Promising Oil & Pipeline Revival
Wave of gun arrests on Capitol Hill, including for a gun in baby stroller, as tourists return
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
Is Climate-Related Financial Regulation Coming Under Biden? Wall Street Is Betting on It
As low-nicotine cigarettes hit the market, anti-smoking groups press for wider standard
Vanderpump Rules' Ariana Madix & Raquel Leviss Come Face-to-Face for First Time Since Scandoval