Nebraska Grape Report from the Lincoln Journal Star

Areas of Nebraska are in extreme and exceptional draught conditions.  That grapes are being harvested in such conditions at all is a testament to the skill and fortitude of Nebraska growers,  several of which are interviewed in this story from the Lincoln Journal Star:  http://journalstar.com/news/local/grape-growers-feeling-summer-s-wrath/article_1b91f424-f0a4-513d-893d-73ca8b2ef8da.html

Publisher’s note:  Driving across Indiana last week, the effect of the draught is shocking.  (And I did not travel to the Southwest portion of the state where the situation is the worst.)  In some areas around Indianapolis, the leaves on many trees have turned brown and died but have not fallen off.  It’s as if the trees have been cooked in an oven, which is not too far from reality.   Much of Indiana corn crop is also badly stunted.  Weather is just physics and chemistry on a level of complexity we cannot yet comprehend.  It’s time to stop including climate change in the tired and banal debate which the two-party system in the U.S. has become.  If  we are causing what’s happening this summer,  changes need to made.