Today I saw an article by a scientist by name of Hansen who stated the drought pattern (theory) is now supported by statistics not just theories. I have seen other articles that indicates we will see climate regions suited to prairie land shift northward. In the longer term this suggest that people looking for lower cost land should be looking at northern regions not southern regions that are are already seeing great heat periods and sometimes water shortages.
I live so far north that if I flew directly west I would land in Alaska. While it is true we have a short growing season we have long sunlight hours in summer. Nightfall only happens at 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM and sunup is around 4:30 AM.
Solar panels definitely must have trackers for best effect. Most people around here have thriving vegetable gardens and the addition of a small green house means we can even grow tomatoes. Berry plants do quite well. I even know someone who has managed to grow a peach tree.
And as Centralpafarm says you can grow your own ice blocks in winter then store them for summer in a hay insulated barn. This was the normal way of doing it before electricity came along. Lots of properties nearby sell for less than $50,000