Farm Progress
Crops that experience drought or extreme temperatures during the early stages of growth and survive are better able to deal with those same conditions if they return later in the year. That’s the conclusion of Peng Fu, a member of the Realizing Increased Photosynthesis Efficiency, or RIPE, project at the University of Illinois.
He says that after analyzing nearly 20 years of crop yield data from Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, his team concluded that corn and soybean plants primed with early-season drought conditions were better able to mitigate a late-season drought. They estimated the benefit at about 7%.