The USDA released its latest Plant Hardiness Zone Report.
The report advises growers on how U.S. temperature zones have changed and serves as a standard that gardeners and farmers can use to determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a given location.
An ag economist with Iowa State University says that dates were expanded in this report, which allows growers more time to get crops in the ground under the cover of crop insurance.
“What you’ve noticed if you’ve been watching over the past couple of decades is we’ve been moving that planting window earlier and earlier because we have been seeing warmer conditions earlier which is linked to the data that we’re seeing in the plant hardiness zone,” Dr. Chad Hart explains.
