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This article adresses the issue of the increasing demand for water. In the readinig in Lesson 1 this week, we learnt about factors that affect demand, one of them was population. The world's population is increasing, therefore the demand for all resources is going up. This takes into account another factor that affects demand...the demand for other goods which are compliments, this article discusses agriculture. So with the growing population, not only will the demand for drinkng water increase, but also its demand will increase for agricultural purposes and many more.

The demand for water is very unique because it isn't just in demand for one purpose, as you alluded to. We use it for drinking, but also washing, agriculture, industrial uses, etc. On top of all that, the market consists of all living things... making it very in demand at all times. Good choice of article!

This article talks of how, in recent years, governments have given more support in agriculture than they used to. However, in the last year the support has decreased. This may be because there are many economy's that have been suffering recently.

A government sponsored agency currently controls the prices for dairy products in Canada. This was implemented because the government wanted to regulate the prices paid to dairy farmers and the amount of milk they could produce, in order to protect the farmers. However, problems have begun to arise because of these price controls, mostly due to the fact that the market price is much higher than it should be (which hurts consumers) and it is costing billions of dollars each year.

This news article is basically concerning the issue of scarcity of natural resources in Africa. We are all well aware that the continent is undergoing an adaptation period with the ongoing climate change and this affects the agricultural aspect of the entire continent (more so in the rural areas). The article talks about the steps that are intended to be taken to withstand the impact of the change in climate and its effects on resources.

This article describes the transition of the Canadian Wheat Board after the Canadian government ended its monopoly. This means the wheat farmers in Western Canada are now going to have to be more competitive as they don't have a monopoly over the industry, and so the industry is ideally transitioning from a concentrated market structure to a competitive market structure.

A tad early, but Christmas music will be coming on the radio next week! At least here in DC.. The article outlines a government plan to make a little extra revenue, and how that plan was so fiercely opposed. The tax would be imposed on the producers, given that they produce more than 500 trees a year, and in turn the producers would probably have to increase their prices. Since it is a specific tax with a fixed amount of $0.15 (not dependent on the price of the trees) it will shift the supply curve up. Even though the article states that the program "wouldn't have any impact on the final price consumers pay for their Christmas tree" - there would be an inevitable small impact at least in one retail area of the trees. Since there are so many consumers that will want Christmas trees, a tax would bring in a fair amount of money, as there are no substitutes for Christmas trees.