With the tremendous growth in wind energy in the past decade, turbines often have been planted in or near cropland—leading both farmers and researchers to wonder what effect the rotating blades might have on corn, soy, and other crops.

In traditional agriculture in many places, farmers grow trees along the edges of fields, a technique that slows the wind and stirs up the air, benefiting the crops in the field.

Now researchers are studying whether wind turbines can have a similar effect—actually helping crops to grow.

Some of the leading research is under way in the U.S. Midwest, heartland of the world's leading corn-producing nation, a place where blustery fields have been ideal for siting wind energy farms. The findings here could