Corn seedlings with less than six leaves can withstand 4 days under water if air temperatures are lower than the high 70s, says University of Nebraska Extension.

A new report from the National Wildlife Federation details how investing in healthy soil can protect farmers from drought and flood impacts.

Recent intense rainfall events (technically referred to as “toad stranglers� or “goose drownders�) have caused flooding of low-lying corn fields or ponding (standing water) in poorly drained swales within fields. Other areas within fields, while not technically flooded or ponded, may remain saturated for lengthy periods of time.

Plants can adapt to extreme shifts in water availability, such as drought and flooding, but their ability to withstand these extreme patterns will be tested by future climate change, according to a study by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and their cooperators.