In Temperate Western Europe

In temperate Western Europe, there is a negative correlation between the amount of rain from 10 July to 20 July and a positive correlation between the ratio of sunny days from 20 March to 10 May and the number of niblets on an ear of corn.  If we seek to say that grim concerns arise from a worsening of the climate, we must first prove that such deterioration arose in the farmlands of the temperate zone, the most settled and most vital for Western Europe’s food supply.  Examples of direct effects of climate on crops too often relate to marginal regions, such as corn in Sweden. 
   

In our current patchy state of inquiry, it's awkward to generalize.  We must bear in mind our innate frailty compared to the colossal forces of nature.  Whether it favors us not, the calendar is our master.  It's marked by good, not so good, or bad harvests.  These are steady drumbeats, setting in motion price fluctuations, on which other matters depend.  Who could fail to agree this insistent background music is in part defined by changing climate history?  

   

We know how vitally important the date of the monsoon still is today.  A mere delay causes irreparable harm in India.  If the same thing happens two or three years running, it means famine.  Here people have not been able to free themselves from these dreadful constraints.  We would do well not to forget the damage caused by the drought of 1976 in Western Europe or the disastrous drought east of the Rocky Mountains in 1964 and 1965.