This week’s buzz phrase is “Corn sweat”. It refers to the moisture that evaporates off of corn, thus increasing humidity. I’d never heard it until Jenny mentioned it a few days ago. “Corn sweat” came up in the news and then everyone at her work began speculating on how it could be doing everything from increasing humidity to changing weather patterns and causing climate change. It all sounded ridiculous to me. But I jumped down the rabbit hole anyway. Here are a few takeaways.
—- A large oak tree, like the 2 in my front yard, releases more moisture than an acre of corn.
—- Soybean sweat almost as much as corn.
—- A 2020 study found that crops in the Midwest can increase the humidity by as much as as 40%…… in the area above the crops. That humidity stays closer to the ground. It’s not really affecting anything down the road. And they noted that it’s not just corn, most crops.