ABSTRACT
Some sense of the scope of the problem as it is commonly described can be derived from annual reports of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. Every year, serious losses or exceptional harvests are attributed to weather variations. A broad range of weather phenomena is involved as damages are reported from virtually all climates where agriculture is practiced. Although agricultural regions show a broad relation to climate, climate itself contains few clues as to how and why the history, the geographical spread and system features of agriculture have arisen. The extraordinary dominance of wheat, rice, maize and potatoes in agricultural production and the areas they involve, has far more to do with human history and institutions than superior climatic hardiness or, indeed, nutritional quality. Much the same can be said of the pre-eminence of pork, beef and poultry in meat production, or the common cow in milk products.
