August 2002 Edition
COFFEE
Officials in Colombia say that coffee producers are facing a crisis that will affect 25 million families worldwide. In 1997, consumers around the world spent US$30-billion on coffee, of which producers received US$12-billion, or 40 per cent. This year, consumers will spend a predicted US$60-billion, but coffee growers will only receive US$5.5-billion, slightly less than 10 per cent. Earlier in the year, Colombian coffee prices were at their lowest in 100 years.
ENERGY
Britain's first cowpat-fired power station will begin producing electricity within a month. The plant will use 146,000 tonnes of liquid slurry a year. As well as generating an estimated 1.4 megawatts, the plant will provide hot water to heat local public buildings. Twenty-seven farmers have signed up to supply 450 tonnes of liquid slurry a day. It will be heated to encourage gas-producing bacteria and the residue returned to farmers as concentrated organic fertilizer. It is hoped to establish 100 such plants across Britain.
NAKED
Animal rights campaigners are angered by a new breed of "naked" chicken created by scientists searching for tastier, healthier poultry. Despite it's bizarre appearance, the red skinned broiler could become a supermarket success because it is designed to grow faster, and contain less fat than normal chickens. It will also be cheaper to produce since its lack of feathers means there is no reason to pluck it before it hits the shelves.
LABOUR
The economic rebound could create a shortage of skilled labour in Ontario's information technology (IT) sector this year. A recent study suggests that as many as 38,000 new IT jobs will be added in 2002. Of those, as many as 9,900 could go unfilled because of a shortage of qualified workers.
PIRATES
Attacks by pirates surged worldwide in the first three months of 2002, with Africa rivalling Southeast Asia for the first time as a high-risk region. Indonesian waters remained the world's most pirate-infested, with 22 of 87 attacks reported in this period. But African countries had 32 attacks. Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania and the Red Sea were the worst-hit areas. The global figure was up 28 per cent from the 68 actual and attempted attacks in the same period last year.
SHOPPING
An ACNielson study says that US consumers are shopping less frequently in traditional grocery stores while increasing their trips to supercentres and dollar stores. These are showing gains both in percentage of households who shop in those channels and in the number of trips consumers take to them each year.
BIOENGINEERING
A new study says that U.S. farmers are getting major benefits, both actual and potential, from bioengineered crops. In 2001, the eight modified plants that have been adopted by U.S. farmers--the most biotech receptive farmers in the world--increased production by 1.8 billion kilograms, saved US$1.2 billion in production costs and decreased pesticide use by about 21 million kilograms.
INTERNET
A recent Statistics Canada report says that almost a quarter million Canadian homes have dropped off the Internet. A little more than 232,000 Canadian households that had used Internet regularly, said they no longer did so. The most common reason given for dropping out of the on-line community was that people found they had "no need" for the Internet, a factor cited by 30 per cent of respondents. The results may also indicate lack of time for on-line activity or difficulty finding what they were searching for.
CRUSTS
In what is being billed as a time-saver for parents too busy to slice the crusts off their children's sandwiches, a U.S. food retailer has launched a line of crustless bread. The innovation is the latest in a string of food-marketing ploys designed to appease the fussy palates of children who obviously hold considerable sway over their parents' purchasing decisions. In past months the market has welcomed such kid-friendly products as sliced peanut butter, blue-coloured french fries and squeezable ketchup in purple, green, pink and orange.
CRIME
A new British study claims that feeding young prisoners cabbages, carrots and other fresh vegetables can help reduce the number of offenses they commit by more than a quarter. By adding vitamins, minerals and other nutritional elements, their anti-social behaviour was remarkably reduced. Researchers believe the findings might help prevent crime.
SCANNING
Canada's top retail groups are banding together to ensure that consumers are compensated when they catch an error at checkout price scanners. The groups are to unveil a code of conduct putting the onus on retailers to give shoppers money back if mistakes are made by scanners. A federal study of 83 stores across Canada, showed that some retailers were overcharging customers ten per cent of the time.
SINKING
A team of British experts has been called in to try and save Venice suffering increasing inundation from flooding. A controversial plan to build a Thames barrier-type structure with 79 gates, each weighing 300 tonnes, has been approved. Once built, the barrier will be raised when a high tide threatens to engulf the city. Last year, St. Mark's Square flooded more than 90 times. The population of the old city has halved to 70,000 in the last 50 years and the numbers continue to fall.
CHINA
A report by the World Trade Organization indicates that China has, for the first time, overtaken Canada to become the world's fourth largest trading economy after the European Union, the U.S. and Japan. China's exports reached US$266 billion in 2001, up 7 per cent from the previous year, while its imports rose 8 per cent year-on-year to reach US$244 billion.
WARMING
Over the last 50 years, a glacier on Everest has retreated three miles up the mountain due to global warming. A United Nations team has reported that the impact of rising temperatures was everywhere to be seen. The landscape bears the scars of sudden glacial retreat while glacial lakes are swollen by melted ice. The team reported that more than 40 Himalayan glacial lakes are dangerously close to bursting, threatening the lives of thousands of people.
BRITAIN
British cheese has suddenly become a fashionable delicacy for the Japanese and contributed to a ten per cent increase in British exports to Japan last year. Japan now features in the top ten list of buyers of British produce. It spent over half a billion Canadian dollars last year, 20 per cent of that on cheese. The total value of British food sold abroad was over C$17 billion.
AUTOS
Industry experts are forecasting that auto makers in North America will come out with 250 new or redesigned vehicles by 2007, a staggering number that represents almost a complete overhaul of everything they sell now. They will offer 100 new models and more than 150 redesigned vehicles resulting from the competitive pressure of the industry.
GROWING
It looks like a North Atlantic salmon but grows seven times faster and it's much more attractive to the opposite sex than a normal salmon. It's a transgenic fish, the first genetically engineered animal under review for the U.S. food supply. Embedded in every cell of its body are genes from the Chinook salmon that make it grow more quickly.
GRASS
The Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco has hired a herd of 400 goats to eat dense brush and weeds from the slopes of its rights-of-way. The animals are rented from Goats-R-Us and consume about an acre a day.
RADIO
Radio is making a comeback in Canada after several difficult years in the late 1980s and most of the 1990s, thanks mainly to FM broadcasting. The industry's profits represented 16.3 per cent of revenues in 2001, up from 13.6 per cent in 1998. The FM segment is one of the most profitable in broadcasting. The profit margin of FM stations has surpassed 25 per cent for the past three years, while AM stations have incurred losses. In 2001, 64 per cent of FM stations realized a profit, compared with only 41 per cent of AM stations.
FRUSTRATION
A Nova Scotia inventor claims to have the answer to what he believes to be one of life's greatest frustrations--waiting in a coffee shop lineup. He has been awarded a provisional patent on an automated coffee-refill system, in which customers are issued reusable mugs with personalized barcodes detailing their favourite type of coffee. A computer scans the barcode and tells the machine what sort of coffee to pour.
SUPPORT
The Canadian Agriculture Minister has announced that Canada will spend $175-million over the next six years to increase export markets for agricultural products. This will approximately double the amount the federal government normally spends to support Canadian agricultural products. The announcement was made the day after the World Trade Organization ruled that Canada's subsidies for some dairy products violate international trade rules.
GAINS
Because of the slumping economy and sagging stock markets, millionaires and billionaires had a hard time making money last year. Millionaires in North America, including about 165,000 in Canada, saw their total assets grow a mere 1.7 per cent last year to US$7.6-trillion. By contrast, the value of millionaires' assets jumped 18 per cent between 1999 and 2000.
TASTE
With little left in the ocean to catch, the fishing industry in Gloucester, Mass., has found a new commodity to market; the slime eel, which feeds off dead and dying fish. Fisheries are now selling seven million pounds a year of the pinkish-grey eels to South Korea. The South Koreans say the eels taste like clams.
TRENDS
A hard hat for building workers that allows employers to see what they are doing is now on trial on British construction sites. The "hatcam" is fitted with a camera and radio transmitter.
PRESCRIPTIONS
New data shows that Canadians spend an average of $500 each on drugs annually. All told, Canadians spent an estimated $15.5 billion on prescriptions and over-the-counter medications last year. In 1985, Canadians spent $3.8 billion on drugs. They now spend more than four times as much.
MISSING
The Bank of England has suspended issuing its new five-pound note after tests unveiled an apparent printing fault that allows the serial number to be rubbed of in some cases. 10 million of the new notes have been distributed. About 200 million of the old five-pound notes are in circulation.
TRIVIA
There are 21 amusement parks in Canada. They have an annual attendance of 12.6 million and revenues of C$336 million.
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