The U2U Corn Growing Degree Day tool: Tracking corn growth across the US Corn Belt

The Corn Growing Degree Day (Corn GDD) tool is a web-based product that can provide decision support on a variety of issues throughout the entire growing season by integrating current conditions, historical climate data, and projections of Corn GDD through the end of the growing season based on both National Weather Service computer model forecasts and climatology. The Corn GDD tool can help agricultural producers make a variety of important decisions before and during the growing season. This support can include: assessing the risk of early and late frosts and freezes that can cause crop damage; comparing corn hybrid maturity requirements and Corn GDD projections to select seed varieties and plan activities such as spraying; guiding marketing decisions based on historical and projected Corn GDDs when considering forward crop pricing (i.e., futures market). The Corn GDD tool provides decision support for corn producers in the central U.S. corn-producing states. Survey results, web statistics, and user feedback indicate that this tool is being actively used by decision makers.