Weather Influences on Crop Yields

ESPITE the general recognition that crop yields are strongly influenced by the weather, there is relatively little detailed knowledge as to the effect of any particular aspect of weather, largely because crop yields are affected by numerous influences operating simultaneously or in succession. Among them are quality of seed and soil, care of land, time of planting, spacing of the plants, insects and other crop enemies. Among weather elements, there are wide variations in degree of warmth and cold, amount of rainfall, snowfall, wind and sunshine, and also in time-concentration or intensity of evaporation and precipitation. With all complications and uncertainties involved, there is little wonder that ideas as to the influence of various weather factors often are hazy or even incorrect. For example, because corn requires warm weather for growth, it often is assumed that hot weather is advantageous. Likewise, because it is killed by frost, the popular thought is that for corn the longer the season without frost the better. Also, because corn requires considerable moisture, it is commonly believed that rainless spells of equal length are equally harmful. More accurate knowledge is obtained chiefly as a result of the accumulation of more data and especially by its more adequate analysis. For Indiana there are now satisfactory official estimates of the state-wide average corn yields for 53 years and trustworthy weather records for the same period. Hence, the volume of data is now adequate for valuable statistical studies; moreover, a recently developed technique, the climograph, permits analyses which are distinctly valuable, and justify yield forecasts of increasing accuracy as the harvest is approached. In addition, these analyses make possible better understanding of the environment and hence more correct appreciation of the influences of each of several conditions. They show that yields are determined by various terrestrial forces, not by chance nor by phases of the moon

Agricultural economics · Agricultural engineering · Agronomy · Biology · Crop · Economics · Crop Yield and Soil Fertility · Engineering · Environmental Science

• Stephen Sargent Visher, 1887–1967

  John Kerr Rose•Annals of the Association of…•1971

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