How Warmer Winters Affect Producers

As the prairies experience a warmer than usual winter, our producers are seeing some positive effects. Farm production extension specialist Shawn Cabak outlines the changes a warmer winter associated with climate change provides.

 

"Some of the weather trends that we're seeing across the prairies are less snowfall, warmer winters, a little more precipitation, and summer temperatures staying similar. Now, when we look at increase in greenhouse gases such as CO2, that's a benefit to crop production. Crops require CO2 for growth. With some of the warmer temperatures we might see higher yielding crops grown, such as corn and soy beans."

 

Cabak notes it could lead to more farmland.

 

"We could see a northward push and expansion of suitable cropping area, improved water-use efficiency because of higher CO2. So, there are a lot of benefits to climate change. There are also some negatives. We could see more severe droughts; we could see poorer rainfall distribution; we might have more pests, because colder weather actually is beneficial for insect disease and weed control."

 

Video: Michigan Cover Crop Decision Tool Update 2026

Abigail Smith, NRCS State Agronomist, Monica Jean, MSU Extension Field Crops Educator, and Madelyn Cleovsky, MSU Extension Conservation Agronomist Educator, discuss 2025 updates made to MCCC’s Cover Crop Decision Tool for Michigan.

This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2023-38640-39573 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number ENC23-226. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.