The year is 5021 and the scene is a unique weather station high on a hill in a very remote area of the country.

The people at this particular weather station do not predict the weather. Instead, they control it.

It hasn?t rained in two months, so growers send a special request to the station for some precipitation. The order is for two inches of rain.

A technical operator takes the order and walks over to a small machine with a myriad of blinking lights and touch-screen buttons on it. She sets the grid for a specific geographical growing area along with the rain level amount. Then she presses the activate button and, presto, it starts raining on the crops in that area until it reaches two inches.

In another part of the country, a ravaging thunderstorm accompanied by possible tornados starts to develop, threatening area residents and their homes. No problem. The weather technician simply enters the storm room, taps on the "stop storm? button and all is calm again. Another weather problem is fixed.

Do you think that there will be such a weather machine in the future? The ability for mankind to control the weather with the push of a button sounds far-fetched, but perhaps possible in the future "

The entire world is affected by weather. It plays a major role in our everyday lives. In fact, one of the more popular topic of conversation at home, on the street or anywhere in the world is weather. Every single day, weather reports come to us from television, radio, newspapers and the Internet. We are all weather-conscious people.

Most individuals do not think of it, but food and weather are actually interrelated. The farming industry depends on ideal conditions to properly grow fruits and vegetables in order to feed mankind. Without food, we would not survive.

There is very little anyone can do to control the weather. The weather factors that a grower has to contend with are an element of risk. The impact on a crop yield is often not understood by the average person on the street. Supermarket shoppers do not realize what a grower goes through to raise a field of lettuce or an orchard of peaches.

Every grower depends on reasonable weather conditions in order to raise their product from the start of planting to harvest time.

California and Florida supply an abundance of the nation?s fresh fruits and vegetables. Ideal climate conditions exist within these two states. However, the possibility of severe storms developing is a real threat to farmers.

Consider the hurricanes that passed through Florida last August and September, which caused significant damage to the growing areas. They resulted in devastating losses for the citrus crop. The storms also destroyed tomato and other vegetables, which drove prices sky-high. Recent storms that hit the West Coast saw unusual amounts of heavy rainfall which caused flooding not only in residential areas, but also throughout many of the fields as well. Rain measuring as much as an inch per hour for several days drenched California.

Matt Seeley, marketing director of The Nunes Co. in Salinas, CA, told me, "Three weeks of rain have hampered production efforts in Arizona and hindered some planting activities in California. Oxnard was hit with 10 inches of rain. There were no reports of flooding, but three weeks of rain really hurts crop production."

Snow in the upper elevations continued to fall on the mountain passes, closing major roads and highways. These conditions created problems with transportation. Trucks with produce were hard-pressed to reach destinations on schedule.

Kenny Myers, president of Kegel?s Produce in Lancaster, PA, said, "We had a few inbound truck delays but nothing extreme. We?ve actually seen positive results by helping some other distribution centers that were unable to get product."

Close to 70 percent of businesses experience difficulties related to weather. The farming industry probably faces the greatest challenge, since it deals with sensitive crops such as berries, tomatoes and lettuce.

Intense weather situations sometime interfere with growing and shipping schedules. Growers are forced to replant crops they lost and planned to sell. This causes tremendous setbacks for farmers not because they have to play catch-up, but also because it hurts them in the pocketbook.

Everyone experiences some annoying weather. If it begins to rain on people in the form of a torrential storm, they have choices. They can either stay indoors until it passes over or simply hold an umbrella over them for protection. There aren?t any choices for growers when such storms arise. They are certainly not going to place umbrellas over their crops.

The biggest enemies of the farming industry are drought and depleting water supplies. Although farmers welcome needed rainfall, flooded fields from days and days of heavy downpours are just as bad. Growers should get all the respect in the world from us for having to struggle through those many challenging weather systems.

(Ron Pelger is the owner of RONPROCON, a consulting firm for the produce industry. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056, by e-mail at ron@power-produce.com, or check his web site at www.power-produce.com.)