Wildfire smoke can cover thousands of square miles in North Dakota for several days. This can affect your breathing and health, as well as the health of your animals.
But our crops and plant life are impacted in a different way. In Wednesday’s Eye on Ag & Energy: how wildfire smoke affects our state’s agriculture.
According to pioneer.com, wildfire smoke can reduce sunlight and create ozone, both are not good for crops. Crops need sunlight and carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.
So, a decrease in sunlight and an increase in ozone — which is oxygen — is not good for our agriculture.
However, scientists say wildfire smoke can diffuse sunlight at times. This means sunlight can hit a patch of smoke and scatter its beams in a lot of different areas, hitting parts of a plant or crop that usually does not get enough sunlight.
Overall, it’s important for farmers to learn about the pros and cons of smoke on our crops
Source: kxnet.com
Photo Credit: pexels-isalndhopper-x
Categories: North Dakota, Sustainable Agriculture