Research Brief: Critical benefits of snowpack for winter wheat are diminishing

Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Assistant Professor Zhenong Jin, PhD, led a group of University of Minnesota scientists in partnering with a global team to study the complex effects of climate change on winter crops. 

Warming winters may sound like a welcome change for some farmers because the change in temperature could reduce freezing stress on plants and create more ideal conditions for growing overwinter cash crops and winter cover crops. However, when looking at climate change from a cross-seasonal perspective and accounting for declining snowpack, researchers are finding that the whole picture isn’t so sunny. Reduced snow may result in more exposure of winter crops to freeze and could mean greater risks for agricultural drought. Read the full brief.