Day 791 of 1000

The following is the abstract for Kelly’s undergraduate research work.  It is very cool that I am actually excited about this!

Evaluating the Ability of Drought Indices as Predictors of North Carolina Corn Yields

Corn is of growing importance to North Carolina’s agricultural economy.  The ability to accurately predict corn yields per year under different different climate conditions is essential.    The North Carolina State Climate Office (NCSCO) maintains seven separate drought indices that contain information on precipitation dating back to 1895 for each of the eight North Carolina climate divisions. Drought index data used spans the period from March through October for each year from 1981 to 2011, reflecting the normal growing season of corn in North Carolina.  This study first attempts to determine if there is a correlation between drought and North Carolina corn yields over time, using North Carolina corn yield data from the USDA. The study will then attempt to determine which of the indices are the best predictors of corn yield per year for each climate division in the case of a correlation. If any strong corn yield predictors are found, expanding the drought indices’ predictive capabilities to other important North Carolina crop yields, such as tobacco or soybeans, could prove to be useful.

The only thing that might be cooler is if she were doing statistics on pork bellies.  After all, this is North Carolina.