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GRAIN WoRLD WorRLD GRAIN STOCKS RUNNING LOW gag United States The near future will reveal many re- } Council indicatea |2&——ES= World sults of current changes in world drop of 31 million weather and rainfall patterns due to the tonnes in coarse greenhouse effect which have been grain stocks by barely mentioned amid the flurry of June 1989, cutting reports on temperature and sea level stocks to less than rises, ozone levels and atmospheric pol- 59 days for the lution. It only takes a minor shift in world - the third rainfall and temperature patterns to rock lowest level on the real foundations of world civiliza- record. tion - the food supply. “The effects A recent report shows that world of the North American drought will be contrast with 89 days last year - and 56 stocks of wheat and coarse grain far more pronounced in 1989-90, when days at the worst recorded level in 1972- could be down to less than 59 days the stocks are gone and the world is 1973. supply by June 1988. totally reliant on the 1989 harvest,” said In Australia, most media discussion The United Nations Food and Agri- Mr Peter Perkins, chief commodities has been about how much money we’re culture Organisation (FAO) said in its analyst with the Australian Bureau of likely to make from the potential starva- latest food outlook that world cereal Agriculture and Resource Economics. tion of the rest of the world. Moral ques- output would fall for two seasons in a World cereal production for 1989-89 is tions aside, much of this debate assumes row for the first time in 40 years. FAO is now forecastat 1,551 million tonnes - 58 that Australian weather will remain Stocks to use forecasting a drop in international grain million tonnes less than last year. roughly ‘average’. stocks to below the “minimum level The main factor in the decline in But rainfall is rising in eastern Aus- considered necessary to safeguard food world stocks has been the North Ameri- tralia while the west - including large security.” can drought, which is believed to have grain-growing areas - is drying out. Just World grain stocks are likely to cut US and Canadian crops by 110 mil- because Australian rainfall is rising plummet by 114 million tonnes in 1988- lion tonnes. generally doesn’t mean we’re immune 89 - the biggest single-year drop on Based on USDA data, in June 1989 to major problems arising from shifts in record. Figures from the US Agriculture the world will have about 59 days supply weather patterns. Departmentand the International Wheat of wheat and coarse grains in stock, in y y Z . sal = Xx “I 7 3 S an Oe ms \—— found dead in his car with a rope around his Biles Sf 7 aos ee neck, connected to a tree. Suicide verdict. Le e * Victor Moore, who worked at Marconi Space and Defence Systems, dead of a drug overdose. Verdict: suicide. * Last year Russell Smith, a scientific officer at the ultra-secret UK Atomic Research Energy Plant near London, was found at the bottom of a 46-metre cliff near Camelford, Cornwall. Verdict: suicide by jumping. A Marconi marketing director is the sixth person connected to the electronics company and the 13th British defence scientist to die in unusual circumstances in the past 2 years. Peter Ferry, aged 60, appears to have killed himself in September by inserting mains electric wires into his mouth and turn- ing on the power. Lights at the Marconi command and control centre in Frimley, Surrey, where Mr Ferry’s body was found in division at Camberley, died when his car, car- A Marconi spokesperson insists the his flat, dimmed and the computers blacked rying cans of petrol, crashed into a disused deaths are not connected. out for a time. restaurant at 130 km/h. The inquest returned A former colleague of Ferry, who asked Police said they were treating his death an open finding. not to be named, said: “Some of us were not *Vimal Dajibhal, a project manager doing low-security work for Marconi Underwater ater Rey gee de> GES A elaccon- as “neither suspicious nor accidental”. A post mortem showed death by electrocution. Systems, was found under a suspension bridge “Officially he was one of two assistant Marconi, part of General Electric and _at Bristol with a rope around his neck, his ™arketing directors and he would make headed by a former Cabinet minister, had trousers around his ankle and a tiny puncture regular tips to Washington. Once 1 had not major contracts with the Ministry of Defence wound in a buttock. An open verdict was re- seen him for so long that 1 asked someone if but is being investigated for allegedly over- = fenight mu mptitermanagenfor Mar: he still worked for us." He described Ferry as ae ght, q a “ lic” . pricing defence Contents for a decade. coni Defence Systems, was researching ‘ ——_ 4 reaniie etd The Marconi deaths include: guided missiles. He was found dead in his i ee oe ny eee age *David Sands, a project manager working on fume-filled car. Verdict suicide after leaving the army as a Brigadier a year secret satellite radar at the company’s Easams * Ashad Sharif, a Marconi computer analyst, earlier. NEXUS New Times Seven - Summer 1989 11 WorRLD GRAIN STOCKS RUNNING LOW Mag United States World The near future will reveal many re- Council indicate a sults of current changes in world drop of 31 million weather and rainfall patterns due to the tonnes in coarse greenhouse effect which have been grain stocks by barely mentioned amid the flurry of June 1989, cutting reports on temperature and sea level stocks to less than rises, ozone levels and atmospheric pol- 59 days for the lution. It only takes a minor shift in world - the third rainfall and temperature patterns to rock lowest level on the real foundations of world civiliza- record. tion - the food supply. “The effects A recent report shows that world of the North American drought will be contrast with 89 days last year - and 56 stocks of wheat and coarse grain far more pronounced in 1989-90, when days at the worst recorded level in 1972- could be down to less than 59 days the stocks are gone and the world is 1973. supply by June 1988. totally reliant on the 1989 harvest,” said In Australia, most media discussion The United Nations Food and Agri- Mr Peter Perkins, chief commodities has been about how much money we’re culture Organisation (FAO) said in its analyst with the Australian Bureau of likely to make from the potential starva- latest food outlook that world cereal Agriculture and Resource Economics. tion of the rest of the world. Moral ques- output would fall for two seasons in a World cereal production for 1989-89 is tions aside, much of this debate assumes row for the first time in 40 years. FAO is now forecastat 1,551 million tonnes - 58 that Australian weather will remain forecasting a drop in international grain million tonnes less than last year. roughly ‘average’. stocks to below the “minimum level The main factor in the decline in But rainfall is rising in eastern Aus- considered necessary to safeguard food world stocks has been the North Ameri- tralia while the west - including large security.” can drought, which is believed to have grain-growing areas - is drying out. Just World grain stocks are likely to cut US and Canadian crops by 110 mil- because Australian rainfall is rising plummet by 114 million tonnes in 1988- lion tonnes. generally doesn’t mean we’re immune 89 - the biggest single-year drop on Based on USDA data, in June 1989 to major problems arising from shifts in record. Figures from the US Agriculture the world will have about 59 days supply weather patterns. Departmentand the International Wheat of wheat and coarse grains in stock, in Mystery Mystery Dea eath Toll Reaches 13 : =] J p . found dead in his car with a rope around his / neck, connected to a tree. Suicide verdict. * Victor Moore, who worked at Marconi Space and Defence Systems, dead of a drug overdose. Verdict: suicide. * Last year Russell Smith, a scientific officer at the ultra-secret UK Atomic Research Energy Plant near London, was found at the bottom of a 46-metre cliff near Camelford, Cornwall. Verdict: suicide by jumping. A Marconi marketing director is the sixth person connected to the electronics company and the 13th British defence scientist to die in unusual circumstances in the past 2 years. Peter Ferry, aged 60, appears to have killed himself in September by inserting mains electric wires into his mouth and turn- ing on the power. Lights at the Marconi command and control centre in Frimley, Surrey, where Mr Ferry's body was found in division at Camberley, died when his car, car- A Marconi spokesperson insists the his flat, dimmed and the computers blacked rying cans of petrol, crashed into a disused deaths are not connected. out for a time. restaurant at 130 km/h. The inquest returned A former colleague of Ferry, who asked Police said they were treating his death an open finding. not to be named, said: “Some of us were not *Vimal Dajibhal, a project manager doing low-security work for Marconi Underwater ater Rey gee de> GES A elaccon- as “neither suspicious nor accidental”. A post mortem showed death by electrocution. Systems, was found under a suspension bridge “Officially he was one of two assistant Marconi, part of General Electric and at Bristol with a rope around his neck, his marketing directors and he would make headed by a former Cabinet minister, had trousers around his ankle and a tiny puncture regular ips to Washington. Once 1 had not major contracts with the Ministry of Defence wound in a buttock. An open verdict was re- seen him for so long that 1 asked someone if but is being investigated for allegedly over- = fenight mu mptitermanagenfor Mar: he still worked for us." He described Ferry as ae ght, q a «. lic” . pricing defence contracts for a decade. coni Defence Systems, was researching ‘ ——_ ‘a reaniie Uhl asad The Marconi deaths include: guided missiles. He was found dead in his i ee oe ny eee age *David Sands, a project manager working on fume-filled car. Verdict suicide after leaving the army as a Brigadier a year secret satellite radar at the company’s Easams * Ashad Sharif, a Marconi computer analyst, earlier. NEXUS New Times Seven - Summer 1989 found dead in his car with a rope around his neck, connected to a tree. Suicide verdict. * Victor Moore, who worked at Marconi Space and Defence Systems, dead of a drug overdose. Verdict: suicide. * Last year Russell Smith, a scientific officer at the ultra-secret UK Atomic Research Energy Plant near London, was found at the bottom of a 46-metre cliff near Camelford, Cornwall. Verdict: suicide by jumping. A Marconi spokesperson insists the deaths are not connected. A former colleague of Ferry, who asked not to be named, said: “Some of us were not sure exactly what his job was at Marconi. “Officially he was one of two assistant marketing directors and he would make regular tips to Washington. Once 1 had not seen him for so long that 1 asked someone if he still worked for us." He described Ferry as a“ workaholic” who arrived at work first and left last. He joined Marconi seven years ago after leaving the army as a Brigadier a year earlier. | All the News That Fits