Climate experts say spring is coming earlier. How will that affect agriculture and ecosystems?

Photo: A farmer plants soybeans in Montgomery County, Md., May 12, 2020. Photo credit: USDA / FPAC photo by Preston Keres via Flickr. Public Domain. Article by Héctor Alejandro Arzate. Grist – April 5, 2026.

As a row crop farmer in St. Joseph, Missouri, Joe Lau said he’s noticing more extreme weather these days. Warmer seasons throughout the year. Quarter-inch predictions of rain stamped out by storms that bring 3 inches. Increased pressure from pests on his corn. He’s also noticed that spring is coming earlier. The USA National Phenology Network shows that this year spring arrived three to five weeks earlier than the average between 1991 to 2020 in much of the central U.S. and two to three weeks earlier in southern Midwest states. […]

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