BONDURANT, Iowa — Last week’s extreme heat may be over, but there may be grave issues for farmers and consumers.
Meaghan Anderson is a Field Agronomist with Iowa State University, who said the weather conditions last week can greatly impact this year’s corn yield. Extreme heat increases the crop’s demand for more moisture, but the lack of rain can impact how much corn is produced.
“This time of year is the time when those conditions are going to have the largest impact. Anytime once those crops start to flower, the stressful conditions are going to have a much larger impact on the final yield of the crop,” Anderson says.
Anderson said that these drought-like conditions have the potential to cause huge problems in certain parts of Iowa. According to her, corn specifically uses a quarter of an inch to as much as a third of an inch of water every day, so central Iowa needs more rainfall to help bring this crop to harvest.
Farmers aren’t the only people who can be impacted by this. Anderson says that if the corn yield is negatively affected by last week’s extreme heat and the overall lack of rain, consumers may see an increase in the price of corn and the products that contain it.
