Photo: Thinkstock

From Black Sea to US Midwest, extreme weather threatens crop output

Hot, dry weather forecast for Russia, Ukraine in coming months; relief seen for China's corn, soybean crops hit by heatwave

Forecast dryness in the Black Sea region's breadbasket is likely to stunt sunflower and corn yields, while heavy rain in the United States after near-record temperatures threaten to take a toll on crops, hitting world supplies and pushing prices higher.



Photo: File

USDA cuts Russian wheat crop estimate after damaging frosts

Chicago | Reuters – The U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its forecasts for Russian wheat production and exports on Wednesday, after Moscow declared federal emergencies over crop losses due to unfavourable weather. Increasing concerns about damage from drought and frosts in Russia, the world’s biggest wheat supplier, drove Chicago board of Trade wheat futures to 10-month highs in May […] Read more



A man is seen outside the house damaged by Russian shelling, Odesa Region, southern Ukraine. (Photo by Nina Liashonok/Ukrinform/Sipa USA)

Ukraine: Our common hive

The people of Ukraine continue to adapt, survive and even thrive

Reading Time: 5 minutes You wake up in the morning and drink coffee before starting the work day. You turn on the TV and listen to a long list of deaths and destruction that happened in your country overnight. The announcer speaks almost without emotion, as if he is talking about everyday, ordinary things. You hear that 10 missiles […] Read more






Daughter Kateryna Zhovtyak founded a bakery before the war, but is now in uniform.

From Ukraine: On the home front

Polina Zhovtyak keeps the home fires burning as her husband and daughter serve in the Ukrainian army

Reading Time: 5 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – After more than two years of all-out war, I have heard many incredible stories of people and how they cope, survive and even thrive. At times I think I will be surprised by nothing. In some parts of the country, in relatively peaceful regions, some live much as they did before the […] Read more