One reason is the warming planet and longer growing seasons. Temperatures around La Crete are 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer on average annually than in 1950, Canadian federal climate records show, and the growing season is nearly two weeks longer. ‘Things are definitely changing,’ says Dicky Driedger, here surveying newly cleared forestland. Photo: Jacob Bunge/The Wall Street Journal “A few degrees doesn’t sound like much,” said Mr. Driedger, 56, who has farmed for three decades in the area roughly as far north as Juneau, Alaska. “Maybe it doesn’t make such a big difference on wheat or canola, but on corn, it sure does.” In August, he watched a tractor-size tiller yank tree roots from the earth, which were to be piled up and ignited in giant bonfires to create new fields. Source: Alberta Climate Records/University of Lethbridge It is hard to predict precisely the effects of a changing planet, but […]