‘Like the corn’s never getting a break. It’s just hot all the time’: How America’s farmers conquered climate change for a ‘monster’ harvest
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‘Like the corn’s never getting a break. It’s just hot all the time’: How America’s farmers conquered climate change for a ‘monster’ harvest

August 25, 2025
05:43 PM
6 min read
AI Enhanced
financialagriculturefood processingmarket cyclesseasonal analysiseconomic

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Robb Rynd had a tough year full of "melted" ears: “It’s almost kind of depressing to go out there and look at it and say, ‘oh yep, it does look bad."

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business news

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August 25, 2025

05:43 PM

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Fortune

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financialagriculturefood processingmarket cyclesseasonal analysiseconomic

Environment·climate change‘ the corn’s never getting a break

It’s just hot all the time’: How America’s farmers conquered climate change for a ‘monster’ harvestBy Melina WallingBy Joshua A

BickelBy The Associated PressBy Melina WallingBy Joshua A

BickelBy The Associated Press Nicolle Ritchie, an extension agent with Michigan State University, inspects an ear of corn for pollination issues Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Paw Paw, Mich

BickelRobb Rynd and his brother grew up farming and wanted to do more of it outside their day jobs, so they went in together on what’s now a little over 200 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum

Last year was a good year, and Rynd said he enjoyed walking the fields with his kids to see how the corn was doing

This year is a different story

All summer he’s been scouting for brown and wilting leaves or ears of corn with kernels missing, and now it’s becoming that every kernel will count this harvest. “It’s almost kind of depressing to go out there and look at it and say, ‘oh yep, it does look bad,’” he said

Across major corn-growing states, climate change is fueling conditions that make watching the corn grow a nail-biter for farmers

Factors consistently high summer overnight temperatures, droughts and heavier-than-usual rains at the wrong time can all disrupt the plants’ pollination — making each full ear of corn less of a guarantee and more of a gamble

Overall, corn growers got lucky this year with late-season weather that contributed to what is now predicted to be a record bumper crop

But experts say bouts of extreme weather are intensifying the waiting game during a critical time of year between planting and harvest

Human-caused climate change has worsened multiple U.S. extreme heat events this year and has steadily increased the lihood of hotter overnight temperatures since 1970, according to Climate Central, an independent group of scientists who communicate climate science and data to the public. ”The hot nights too, the corn’s never getting a break

It’s just hot all the time,” Rynd said. “I know it’s wearing on me.” How excessive heat and rainfall can impact corn pollination As a corn plant grows, the leaves unroll to reveal the tassel, the part that sheds pollen, explained Mark Licht, an associate fessor of agronomy and an extension cropping systems specialist at Iowa State University

If the plant grows too fast, which can happen when it’s consistently very hot, the tassel may be wrapped too tightly by the leaf, meaning less pollen gets released

That can lead to patchy ears of corn

Tight tassel wrap was reported in pockets across parts of the Midwest and the Plains, according to some agricultural trade publication reports during the growing season

Licht said he’d only seen tassel wrapping issues once before in his 20 years as an agronomist

High temperatures can stress corn in other ways, lowering pollen duction, reducing pollen’s viability or drying out other parts of the plants, reducing fertility. “I think any of the pollination issues that we might be having are more because the nights have been so exceedingly warm,” said Larry Walton, who farms near Rynd in southwestern Michigan, where many farmers irrigate because it’s a drier area. “We tend to see pollination issues being more blematic when we have high temperatures and drought conditions or lack of rainfall,” Licht said

Yet Iowa had plenty of rain and still saw some pollination issues

Excessive moisture can cause corn smut, a type of fungus that grows on the ears

He said farmers are having to pay more attention to this because “there’s just more variable weather.” Overall ‘monster’ yield expected despite tricky weather conditions This winter, the U.S. drought monitor reported drought in nearly 60% of corn duction areas in the Midwest

But near or above normal rainfall nearly everywhere east of the Rockies this summer brought that down to just 3% as of the beginning of August, said Brad Rippey, a meteorologist with the U.S

Department of Agriculture

That, combined with consistent heat, means that “we are expecting a monster U.S. corn crop in 2025,” Rippey said

But it wasn’t easy for everyone. “This has bably been one of the most difficult growing seasons that I’ve experienced in my career,” said Philip Good, a farmer in Macon, Mississippi and chair of the United Soybean Board

He planted his corn and soybeans 60 days behind schedule because it rained nearly every day for two months

They lost some fertilizer and some plants died in standing water, Good said, but they made up for it with some lucky weather later in the season. “The rain does fall in heavier bursts,” Rippey said

He said that can be an issue for farmers because even when it doesn’t cause flash floods, the moisture doesn’t necessarily percolate into the soil

It runs off and carries fertilizer with it, which is a blem for rivers’ health and farmers’ pocketbooks

The trend toward higher humidity levels and warmer ocean temperatures, contributing to hotter nights, could be a bigger issue going forward, putting stress on crops corn and soybeans, Rippey added

Climate variability adds stress to a critical time for farmers Late summer is a make-or-break time for farmers: They’re trying to gauge how much they’ll make from the year’s crop and planning their next steps, and patchy pollination doesn’t help. “We’d to upgrade a tractor … or we’d maybe try to pick up some more ground,” Rynd said. “It’s hard to want to go do those things when you have a bad year this.” When the uncertain pollination is at its worst, if 15% to 25% of every ear of corn doesn’t have kernels, that could mean a significant yield loss over a large field, said Nicolle Ritchie, a Michigan State University extension agent who helps Walton and Rynd survey their crops

Jason Cope co-founded a farm company called PowerPollen whose equipment can mechanically collect pollen and then pollinate future crops

He said that due to extreme weather events, the number of “rescue” pollination jobs they’ve done for customers — to fields that didn’t naturally pollinate very well — has nearly doubled since they started in 2018

Walton said he can manage as long as the pollination issues don’t get too bad. “You learn to roll with the stress part of it because most of that you can’t control anyway,” he added

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