For farmers, watching and waiting is a spring planting ritual. Climate change is adding to anxiety

By JOSHUA A. BICKEL
Associated Press

SABINA, Ohio (AP) — As climate change drives an increase in spring rains across the Midwest, it can mean more anxiety for farmers eager to carry out the ritual of spring planting. In Ohio, for example, farmers have lost about five days of field work in the month of April since 1995. When farmers have to wait for fields to dry out, planting days can become endurance tests that stretch into the night. Delays in planting can affect yield if they are significant enough, and the quality of crops planted in wet springs may suffer at harvest, too.