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The Graphic Truth: Has climate change hurt or helped farmers?

The Graphic Truth: Has climate change hurt or helped farmers?
Ari Winkleman
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Over the past half century, climate change has had an immense impact on the farmers who produce the food we eat. A new study by Cornell University shows that global warming has knocked 21 percent off of global agriculture productivity growth since 1965, equivalent to seven years of normal growth if humans had not polluted the planet. But not all countries have been affected in the same way. Farmers in warmer parts of the world have been hit hard as conditions grow more arid, but sub-polar regions in Canada or Siberia are now actually better for agriculture because they are not as cold as they used to be. Here we take a look at how climate has affected farming productivity growth around the world.

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Fewer migrants, but deadlier journeys to Europe
Will Fitzpatrick
The number of migrants and refugees reaching the continent by sea has dropped sharply this year as many European countries tighten their immigration rules. But despite fewer crossings, more migrants have died. Nearly 2,300 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, up from roughly 2,000 during the same period last year, as [...]
Followers of the Shi'ite Houthi group ride on a truck at a gathering near the Yemeni capital Sanaa August 20, 2014.

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The Saudis ask China for help“Hi, China, it’s Saudi Arabia, could you tell Iran to ask the Houthis to chill out?” That, in so many words, is the current telephone game amid intensifying attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on Saudi oil export routes. With the US seemingly unable to contain the regional consequences of its war on Iran, China is [...]
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A woman walks past a billboard, displaying portraits of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy and promoting the United Russia party ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election, near the Moscow International Business Centre in Moscow, Russia, September 15, 2026.

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Why does Vladimir Putin even bother with elections? It’s a fair question to ask as Russia goes to the polls this weekend for nationwide local and parliamentary votes in which the outcome is certain. The ruling United Russia party, closely associated with Putin himself, polls at nearly 40%. Its closest competitors, a small handful of occasionally [...]
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives with incoming Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh for Warsh's swearing-in ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 22, 2026.

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives with incoming Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh for Warsh's swearing-in ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 22, 2026.

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This week — Independent institutions: 2, Trump: 0The US president took two big domestic losses this week. First, the Supreme Court ruled against his demand for restrictions on mail-in voting in the upcoming midterms. The stinger? All three Trump-appointed justices sided with the decision. “These are not the people I interviewed,” he griped on [...]