By Vanessa Kummer
(CNN) The record drought scorching the western US -- including my state, North Dakota -- is becoming an all-too-familiar story.
For farmers like me, it seems like nowadays we have more bad years than good. Every season brings another unprecedented catastrophe, affecting crops regionally or all around the country. Remember the record winter storm in Texas, only four months ago? It caused $600 million in agricultural losses, according to Texas A&M University. In addition to the current megadrought, which analysts describe as the worst in 1,200 years, in the past three years alone farmers have seen record floods in the Midwest, "derecho" storms that brought hurricane-force winds to Iowa and Illinois, and the largest ever wildfire season in California, not to mention other deluges, droughts and localized disasters that barely registered in the news cycle.