Canadian Wildfires have been affecting the air quality in the United States. While that isn’t nearly as damaging as the fires themselves on the lives of Canadians, it is nevertheless an impact on our quality of life as well. We have had air quality warnings and it has been more than easy to see the smoke in our air many mornings in Iowa. If the air quality is bad for us, what does it mean for the plants that rely on good air quality and sunshine for development?
Seth Naeve is an extension agronomist out of the University of Minnesota that has been studying these effects on crops in the United States, specifically in the Midwest. He says there is no simple way of breaking down what the smoke is doing to our grain production.
Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis. However, the smoke is refracting the direct rays of sunshine to the plants. What does that mean?
So, while we are affected negatively by smoke, plants are finding some benefits from it.
That doesn’t mean that plants aren’t facing any adverse effects from the smoke. There are plenty of parts of this that could be damaging to the plants, like the creation of ozone.
