Posted on Jan 17, 2023
Kansas wheat farmers face a tougher future as climate change ramps up dry, hot, windy weather
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A new study from Kansas State University researchers is the first to measure how a changing climate is hurting wheat production in the Great Plains. And it points to a future with more extreme heat, drought and wind.
HAYS, Kansas — It’s been a rough year for the Wheat State’s trademark crop.
This resilient plant is a fighter. But even for a grain that’s seemingly built to succeed on these unforgiving plains, the ongoing drought tests its limits.
Wheat farmers, like Chris Tanner in northwest Kansas, feel the roller coaster.
“It can be very, very bountiful or it can be the complete polar opposite and be a famine,” Tanner said. “You have to learn how to weather those storms in life.”
Recently, those storms have been closer to a Dust Bowl than a deluge.
HAYS, Kansas — It’s been a rough year for the Wheat State’s trademark crop.
This resilient plant is a fighter. But even for a grain that’s seemingly built to succeed on these unforgiving plains, the ongoing drought tests its limits.
Wheat farmers, like Chris Tanner in northwest Kansas, feel the roller coaster.
“It can be very, very bountiful or it can be the complete polar opposite and be a famine,” Tanner said. “You have to learn how to weather those storms in life.”
Recently, those storms have been closer to a Dust Bowl than a deluge.
Kansas wheat farmers face a tougher future as climate change ramps up dry, hot, windy weather
Posted from kcur.org
Kansas State University
Farming
Agriculture
Climate Change
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Triple whammy
The landmark K-State study bills itself as the first one to compute the impact of a changing climate on wheat farming in the Great Plains. It analyzed how different combinations of weather add up to affect the grain’s production across six states — Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas.
The goal was to answer some simple questions with four decades of detailed data. What happens to wheat when the weather is hot? Or dry? Or windy? And what about when two or three of those atmospheric conditions hit the same field at the same time?
Unsurprisingly, the triple whammy of hot, dry and windy weather — known as HDW events — inflicted the most damage on harvests.
K-State agronomy professor Stephen Welch ran the study’s theoretical modeling that showed how various climate conditions impact plant growth. The compound impact of those three extremes happening together, he said, is significantly greater than when they occur one at a time. And in the Great Plains, those HDW events are ramping up.
“That precise combination of events has been increasing over the 40-year period due to climate change,” Welch said. “That's a key factor.”
..."Triple whammy
The landmark K-State study bills itself as the first one to compute the impact of a changing climate on wheat farming in the Great Plains. It analyzed how different combinations of weather add up to affect the grain’s production across six states — Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas.
The goal was to answer some simple questions with four decades of detailed data. What happens to wheat when the weather is hot? Or dry? Or windy? And what about when two or three of those atmospheric conditions hit the same field at the same time?
Unsurprisingly, the triple whammy of hot, dry and windy weather — known as HDW events — inflicted the most damage on harvests.
K-State agronomy professor Stephen Welch ran the study’s theoretical modeling that showed how various climate conditions impact plant growth. The compound impact of those three extremes happening together, he said, is significantly greater than when they occur one at a time. And in the Great Plains, those HDW events are ramping up.
“That precise combination of events has been increasing over the 40-year period due to climate change,” Welch said. “That's a key factor.”
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