COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the wildfire smoke made a reappearance in Ohio this week, crop health may be a concern.
Spectrum News agriculture expert Andy Vance said understanding that impact may be difficult.
“One of the big challenges in trying to figure out how a situation like these wildfires will affect crops is there’s not a lot of great research on the effects of wildfire smoke on crop yields, plant health, etc.,” Vance said.
Vance cited difficulties in conducting quality-controlled research on wildfires.
“We would say, though, you know, it’s clear that any reduction in sunlight is suboptimal for plant development, but then you have also the other factors like changes in ozone because of the wildfires, the air quality, particulate matter, all of those kind of things that could interfere with photosynthesis,” Vance said.
Vance said crop yield could be affected as well.
“We would expect lower yields because of things the plant has to do to stay healthy due to suboptimal atmospheric conditions because of this wildfire,” he said.
