There is a great new resource available for free describing the relationships between climate and crops.  It is an iBook recently produced by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System at Auburn University.  Here are some comments about it from their press release:

Dr. John Beasley, head of Auburn University’s Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, points out that farmers can control every production variable except the weather.

“Weather is the most difficult challenge they face,” said Beasley, who is a contributor to Climate and Crops. “Until now they have not had a tool to manage the one thing they can’t control.”

“This free iBook provides farmers with tools to take advantage of the knowledge base that has developed regarding how crops are affected by climate.”

Dr. Brenda Ortiz, scientific editor of Climate and Crops and Auburn University associate professor says thanks to breakthroughs that merged the sciences of agronomy and climatology, food producers can now base crop decisions for the next year on global climate patterns.

“Row crop farmers across the Southeast are very concerned about the next planting season,” said Ortiz, who is also an Alabama Extension precision agriculture specialist. “Growers can use Climate and Crops to anticipate risks and improve their preparedness.” In addition, she notes that the iBook, which recently debuted at the American Society of Agronomy’s national meeting, can enhance farmers’ profitability.

You can read more about it at https://news.aces.edu/blog/2016/11/14/climate_crops/ and at https://www.aces.edu/extcomm/publications/signature/climate/. Unfortunately for those of us who area not Apple users, I believe that you have to have an Apple iPad to read it, but the demos I have seen make it look very useful.

Torrential rains in south Florida’s Redlands growing region severely damaged winter yellow squash, zucchini and green beans, as well as this field of corn grown by Alger Farms. Source: Alger Farms via The Packer.
Torrential rains in south Florida’s Redlands growing region severely damaged winter yellow squash, zucchini and green beans, as well as this field of corn grown by Alger Farms. Source: Alger Farms via The Packer.