weather and farming

Looking back at the last month of blogging, it seems like I spend an inordinate amount of time talking about weather and its effect on farming.  While some areas have been blessed with climate regimes that vary little during the growing season, specifically most of the western US, the same is not true of the rest of the country.  As climate change continues to occur, even California agriculture will face changes they could not imagine as few as 20 years ago.  Here in the Northeast, adaptation will not be nearly as difficult for growers, since wild weather is the exception that proves the rule.  Planting late, battling frost, high rainfall, blazing heat and midsummer storms is what we do.  Jerry Shulman, my mentor in the produce business always said, "As long as farmers can bring in a crop, they will continue to farm", or words to that effect.  If the weather makes profitable farming impossible, the consequences for our civilization will be dire.  That's why weather occupies the my thoughts and those of us who are involved in agriculture.