Global warming is epic, long-term study says

[Nebrfarmr]

Dad says when he was young, Grandpa would sow more oats in Febuary, than in March, during the 1950s.  Couldn't do that, with any frost in the ground.

This year, we still have close to a foot of frost, within 5 miles of Grandpa's place, on March 8th.

[Nebrfarmr]

If you have enough water in the soil, the first several rows will yield better, next to any kind of road, even my driveway to the irrigation well, that only sees a fuel truck once or twice a month.

This year, in Eastern Nebraska, where they don't irrigate, my brother in law said he had yields of 100+ BPA around the edges of the field, everywhere it bordered a road, or crop other than corn, but yields under 30 BPA though the middle, according to their yield monitor.
We don't know what caused it, but I can attest it wasn't viechle exhaust.

If you poke around for articles on yield, you will notice that last year especially, it was quite common for yields to be notably higher around the field borders, than in the main part of the field.

[Shaggy98]

Maybe that's why the Pro Farmer Ag Tour always reports back rosie results.  They drive by and look at the first few rows and make their decisions.

[Bugeye]

That's the kind of response you would expect from somebody at 2 in the morning. You were up checking heifers I suppose.

[Shaggy98]

Nope

[r3020]

---

@Bugeye wrote:
That's the kind of response you would expect from somebody at 2 in the morning. You were up checking heifers I suppose.

---

Maybe he was gettin him some..........thing to eat.

[farmertandan]

 hey, i love that statement r3020, isn't that what our forefathers did? 

  As for climate change, the real data, not the propaganda, shows CO2 increases as a result of warming, so it can't cause it any more than a cop pulling you over causes speeding.

[Kay/NC]

This whole climate change debate can rest on a lot of evidence gathered from more or less limited regions. Anecdotal observations like yours are just as legitimate, but are usually not " counted" towards weighing the evidence the way I have always felt they should be. Who knows better than a farmer when frost leaves and returns each year.

Clearly, arctic ice is shrinking. That makes preparation for sea level rise only prudent. Those houses falling into the sea on Plum Island in this last winter storm are good anecdotal signs of what is to come.

The main problem I have with the reportage on this subject is that we see graphic footage of the house tumbling into the surf, but no one says anything about evidence contrary to the change in terms of a warmer world. Second to that is the trend to ignore credible science that points to this being a natural phenomenon, rather than a manmade one.

[Kay/NC]

My initial thought about rows next to an Interstate, which would be engineered for drainage to meet or exceed a 25-year storm event. Here, that is roughly 7 inches in 24 hours. This requires a roadbed and bridges raised to accommodate that standard.

If corn is anything like grass, growth is a function of rainfall. If your first few rows receive runoff for two travel roads, the median and shoulders, then they are getting a good deal more moisture than rows further out in the field.

The same effect might be observable along other roadways, but local roads seldom have the height and width of an interstate, which was built with national funds to national standards.

It is like the flowers that grow bigger where the roof funnels water onto them, than the ones in the flowerbed across the yard. Hardscape, like paving and buildings, creates a multiplier effect for surrounding vegetation. Look around newer construction sites in town, and you may see some drainage ponds and even rain gardens in some of them.

Make sense to anyone else?

[rswfarms]

Yes Kay, I agree with your thoughts on drainage regarding what I call my "Interstate 35 Corn yield increase". However, in Iowa we lose 1,000x more corn yield to excess water, than to drought. That is why tiling is so very important in North-Central Iowa, 19 years out of 20 years, we fight to drain this excess water OFF our corn fields, not try and keep it on. Dirt that stays waterlogged for weeks at a time turns the corn a bright yellow color and we can suffer a 50% yield decrease. So basically, the entire corn field recieves plenty of moisture and our main goal has always been to try and drain the excess rain/moisture off our fields. So 19 years out of 20, moisture is never the limiting factor in our corn production, it is excess moisture that limits our corn yield. Hope I have made myself clear. Most of the other cornbelt states try to keep the moisture on there fields to increase yields, while in Iowa we fight to get the water/moisture off our fields and into the big County Drain Tiles.