Prices for fresh vegetables in Canada were up 18.2 per cent in the 12 months to January, where the average price of food in global markets has fallen by 14.5 per cent in the last year as wholesale prices fell for oil, grains and other food products, according to the UN FAO Food Price Index.
Since 81 per cent of fruit and vegetables sold in Canada are imported, that has had a direct impact on the price of produce.
Low dollar
"Our economic and geographic realities are catching up to us," said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Food Institute at the University of Guelph in Ontario. "The fact that we live in one of the largest countries in the world with 35 million people only. It's hard to distribute food efficiently no matter where you live in the country."
Shifting crops
But even products, which are grown in Canada, are often processed elsewhere, Charlebois said. Canada has no national food policy and allowed big processors such as Kellogg in London, Ont., and Quality Meat Packers in Toronto, to exit the country without planning to rebuild processing capacity here, he said.
Canadian farmers are looking to move away from grain and oil crops, perhaps shifting production to vegetables because of low commodity prices. But they face higher prices on seeds, fertilizer and the new equipment needed for different harvesting methods because of the high U.S. dollar.
