Statistical studies of rainfed maize yields in the United States and elsewhere have indicated two clear features: a strong negative yield response to extreme heat, and a relatively weak response to seasonal rainfall.
The authors of the study used the process-based Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM), a integrative modeling tool for analyzing whole-farm systems, to reproduce these conditions in the Midwestern United States.
They found a lot of the “drought” impacts on maize in the US are driven by increases in extreme heat rather than decreases in rainfall.
Read the paper online.