I did not grow up on a farm, nor do I live on a farm now. But I know farmers, and I have known farmers my entire life.
Fertilizer does quite a bit to improve yield in different soil conditions for the modern farmer, and hybrids, some genetically engineered, and some engineered the good old-fashioned way, with field work, do a lot to make up for short growing seasons and dry weather when they come along.
But the one variable that has remained stubbornly out of control is rain.
Sure, you can irrigate your fields, but that water ain’t free and neither are the sprinklers that spread it around.