On Winter

Last Christmas break when I was back at my home church, I noticed a redbud branch in front of the icon of Christ on the iconostasis. It being winter I was almost disturbed to see it there. When I asked my priest where it came from, he said something along the lines of "My redbuds are blooming early. I think they're confused."

The reason, no doubt, was that the winter was so lukewarm. No one I spoke to remembers any winter that warm. I began to seriously ponder what would happen to our environment if we lost cold winters. Winter, I was given to understand, is very important to agriculture not performed in tropical climates. What would happen to food, wildlife, and our water system without snow replenishing the groundwater?

After pondering a while, I stopped pondering, because the topic is frightening, and there's nothing I can do to stop the death of winter if it is indeed happening. Fall approaches, however, and so does the thought of another quasi-winter. Since this blog is about agriculture, I will focus on winter's benefits for farming.

The Cornflea Beetle

Winter, or more specifically subfreezing temperatures, kills pests. For example, Stewart's Wilt, which is a bacterial disease that predominantly affects maize, resides in cornflea beetles during the winter. When the temperatures are low enough during the winter in an agricultural region, the risk for Stewart's Wilt could be eliminated for that year. `

Just What it Says on the Chart

For most perennial crops, a period of low sunlight and temperatures forces the plants to stop producing leaves and fruit. This period of dormancy, called "chilling hours," is effectively nap time for the crops. If they didn't reserve energy like this, they would progressively produce fewer, weaker products. Since all of the energy found in proteins, enzymes, and photosynthetic articles are drawn into the soil instead of up into the plants. One could think of it almost like charging the soil.

If the winter is warm and balmy like last year's, plants may be triggered to flower too early, thus giving them less "charging" time to make their produce, well, productive. This called "bolting," and it happened to our spring crops this year. Bolting is bad for both farmers and everyone who eats food, for obvious reasons. Long story short, let's pray we have an actual winter this year.