Climate Forecasts for Corn Producer Decision Making

Authors

Eugene S. Takle, Iowa State UniversityFollow
Christopher J. Anderson, Iowa State University
Jeffrey Andresen, Michigan State University
James Angel, University of Illinois Urbana—Champaign
Roger Wesley Elmore, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Benjamin M. Gramig, Purdue University
Patrick Guinan, University of Missouri
Steven Hilberg, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Doug Kluck, National Weather Service Central Region
Raymond Massey, University of MissouriFollow
Dev Niyogi, Purdue University
Jeanne M. Schneider, USDA-ARS
Martha D. Shulski, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Dennis Todey, South Dakota State University
Melissa Widhalm, Purdue University

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2014

Citation

Earth Interactions (18) 5 (2014); DOI: 10.1175/2013EI000541.1

Comments

Copyright 2014, Paper 18-05; 22727 words, 1 Figures, 0 Animations, 0 Tables

Abstract

Corn is the most widely grown crop in the Americas, with annual production in the United States of approximately 332 million metric tons. Improved climate forecasts, together with climate-related decision tools for corn producers based on these improved forecasts, could substantially reduce uncertainty and increase profitability for corn producers. The purpose of this paper is to acquaint climate information developers, climate information users, and climate researchers with an overview of weather conditions throughout the year that affect corn production as well as forecast content and timing needed by producers. The authors provide a graphic depicting the climate-informed decision cycle, which they call the climate forecast–decision cycle calendar for corn.