Climate change, genetics change: Determining what is at stake
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Farmers in the Red River Valley area of northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, and up in adjacent areas of Manitoba province, have nearly completed harvesting their wheat and barley crops and are now watching corn and soybeans mature for a fall harvest. The mere mention of corn and soybean crops in the northern valley is a new experience. This was always wheat, barley, potato, sunflower and sugarbeet country. Until the past decade, most attempts at growing corn were geared to making silage to feed livestock, not to grow corn for the commodity markets. This has retired farmers in coffee shops all across western Minnesota pondering the risks of planting crops that require longer growing seasons and more moisture than the traditional wheat and barley crops. Continue Reading