Perfect storm sends food prices soaring

Canada is experiencing a perfect storm when it comes to food inflation as grocery prices rose 9.7% in April, the largest increase since September 1981, according to Statistics Canada.

“That's a combination of several factors really impacting the food basket in Canada,” said Sylvain Charlebois, a.k.a. The Food Professor, who's the senior director of Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Halifax's Dalhousie University. “Climate, the COVID hangover affecting supply chains, the (Russian-Ukraine) war, and of course now we're seeing nations hoarding and panicking with India and Indonesia," Charlebois said.

“So if you are to consider the current inflation cycle as a hockey game, we're just ending the first period right now. If you want to look at the perfect playbook to create a global food security crisis, you're looking at it.”

Neil Hetherington, CEO of Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank, said they experienced a 40-year high in March in the number of monthly visitors and by April they reached 153,000 — up from 118,000 last April, including 5,700 new families.

Food price increases are just going to make demand higher.

“This is a crisis on top of a crisis,” said Hetherington. “Pre-pandemic we were already seeing 60,000 people coming to food banks and that number is 160,000 now per month. You compound that with gas (prices) and people are under water. They need the Daily Bread in order to make ends meet. Particularly those who are on a fixed income.”

He'd like to see a change in social policies to reflect the current economic situation, more affordable housing and an increase in the food bank's private funding to help ease the situation.

Charlebois said that since December 2021, the price for beef (other than ground beef ) is up 25%, but pork is down 7%-8%, whole chicken is down 16%, and dairy has increased by 10%.

Also up in prices are oranges (8%), avocados (18%,) sweet potatoes (19%), limes (40%), celery (24%), carrots (22 %), iceberg lettuce (17%), romaine lettuce (16%) and broccoli (19%).

If you want to look at the perfect playbook to create a global food security crisis, you're looking at it. Sylvain Charleobois