The past 70 years have been good for corn production in the Midwestern U.S., with yields increasing fivefold since the 1940s, reports The Harvard Gazette.
Much of this improvement has been credited to advances in farming technology, but researchers at Harvard University are asking if changes in climate and local temperature may be playing a bigger role than previously thought.
In a new paper, researchers found that a prolonged growing season due to warmer temperatures, combined with the natural cooling effects of large fields of plants, have had a major contribution to improved corn production in the U.S.
They found that as temperatures increased due to global climate change, planting days got earlier and earlier, shifting by about three days per decade.
Read the full report here.
