Rising Midwest Weed Pressures, Moisture Extremes Likely — Scientists

With gradual changes in the climate, Midwestern farmers could begin facing new crop challenges as things like weeds evolve to thrive in what’s expected to be generally wetter crop years punctuated by rainfall and temperature extremes, according to a group of researchers. Ragweed is one weed that researchers say could thrive even more with the expected changes, and more frequent heavy rains could cause things like mold and algae to become bigger parts of the ecosystem in crop country. It’s a call for agriculture to begin taking measures to both plan for the increase in such weather events and take action to both maintain productivity in ways that will minimize any adverse environmental impacts, according to Iowa State University Emeritus Agronomy Professor and longtime crop weather expert Eugene Takle. See more.