The window for completing spring fieldwork in Iowa is shrinking by an average of nearly one full day every four years, according to a new analysis by retired Iowa State University Extension specialists William Edwards and Mark Hanna.

Looking at USDA crop progress data, the duo found that the trendline on days suitable for fieldwork from April through mid-June has dropped from 48 days to 35 days since 1964. 

“The window for completing spring fieldwork in Iowa is shrinking significantly,” Edwards and Hanna wrote in an ISU Ag Decision Maker article. 

There...