New report from The Climate Corporation says the probability
varies widely by geography. Historically warm weather this March
and April led to many farmers planting a week, two weeks, or
even a month earlier than normal. This strategy has several
potential benefits. Farmers could plant a longer season hybrid,
for instance, or they could sell their new crop corn for
September or October delivery. Above all, farmers cite a
temperature-based benefit to planting early – they want to
substantially lower the risk of excessive, damaging heat during
pollination. It’s a numbers game, and The Climate Corporation
just calculated the odds. "Corn doesn’t care about heat unless
it’s about 95 degrees or hotter," says Jeff Hamlin, director of
agronomic research. "We looked at the historical probability of
seeing damaging heat. If you had a choice, you wouldn’t want
your crop pollinating then." The Climate Corporation looked at
32 years of historical temperature data during four key summer
weeks: June 17-23, June 24-30, July