'Short corn' could replace the towering cornfields steamrolled by a changing climate

Short corn is seen next to tall corn in farmer Cameron Sorgenfrey's field, Sept. 16, 2024, in Wyoming, Iowa. Cameron Sorgenfrey holds a tall corn stalk next to a short corn stalk along one of his fields, Sept. 16, 2024, in Wyoming, Iowa. Short corn is seen in one of farmer Cameron Sorgenfrey's fields, Sept. 16, 2024, in Wyoming, Iowa.

Taking a late-summer country drive in the Midwest means venturing into the corn zone, snaking between 12-foot-tall green, leafy walls that seem to block out nearly everything other than the sun and an occasional water tower.