Inflation saps joy of cooking for Canadians

Inflation saps joy of cooking for Canadians

Canadian price increases are lower than other jurisdictions but still a concern

Reading Time: 3 minutes Katie Clark cancelled her plans to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year because of rising food costs. The 32-year-old Toronto-based single mom says this isn’t the only way rising food costs have affected her over the last year. “It’s really affected what I make and how I cook, and it’s taken the joy out of it […] Read more

(Noel Hendrickson/DigitalVision/Getty Images)

Farmgate milk price hike delayed to May

Stakeholders say increase should be postponed amid food inflation concerns

The farmgate price of milk will go up May 1, 2024, rather than Feb. 1, after a review of the national pricing formula and consultation with stakeholders. The increase will be 1.77 per cent, or about 1.5 cents per litre for milk going into processing plants, the Canadian Dairy Commission said Wednesday. The commission had […] Read more


Keith Currie, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Jennifer Babcock, government and public affairs for the Canadian Cattle Association, Jan VanderHout, president of the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada, Rick White, president of the Canadian Canola Growers Association and Kyle Larking, executive director of Grain Growers of Canada, listen as Kody Blois, chair of the House of Commons agriculture committee (centre), talks about his new private member’s bill Oct.19.

Private member’s bill looks for quicker ag product approval

Seed, feed and pest control legislation would be amended to allow faster approval of products already registered in ‘trusted’ jurisdictions

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Kody Blois, Liberal MP and chair of the House of Commons agriculture committee, has introduced a bill to make it easier for seed, feed and crop protection products to move into Canada. Private member’s Bill C-359 would amend the Seeds Act, Feeds Act and Pest Control Products Act to provide a 90-day […] Read more

The Agriculture Enlightened conference, held Oct. 26 in Winnipeg and hosted by EMILI, is trying to help Canada become a leader in digital and precision agriculture. (John Deere photo)

Robots may help grain farmers diversify

Tech could support labour-intensive higher-value crops

Chuck Baresich, who owns an agricultural robotics business in Ontario, says controlling weeds with robots is probably best suited for high-value, horticultural crops in Canada. However, large-scale grain farmers could also use the technology if they think about it differently. “Let’s say my brother and me are growing 1,500 acres of corn,” said Baresich, who […] Read more


The FAO has forecast world cereal production at 2.819 billion tonnes in 2023.

September world food price index little changed

Food prices seem to be finding new stability after Ukraine invasion sent them skyrocketing

Reading Time: 2 minutes The United Nations food agency’s world price index was largely stable in September, as declines in the indices for vegetable oils, dairy and meat offset a surge in sugar and maize prices. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 121.5 points last month against a […] Read more



Despite continued evidence that most consumers have a very limited appetite for non-meat meat and non-egg eggs, investors continue to throw venture capital at both half-cooked ideas.

Fake meat is mostly a fake-out for now

Meat alternative companies have made big boasts, but the numbers are on the side of real animal products

Reading Time: 2 minutes Beyond Meat, Inc. has had almost 15 years to build a product lineup that is, as its name claims, beyond meat. By some business metrics, it has. The company, whose market capitalization was pegged at US$1.3 billion when it went public in 2018, recently reported April-to-June 2023 sales of $102 million. That sounds like a […] Read more

(Video screengrab from Saputo.com)

Hold off on milk price hike, dairy farmers say

Dairy commission to consult again before making annual adjustment

The process to set the next national price adjustment for Canadian milk will now take an extra week, triggered by stakeholder objections, for a round of consultations — in which the national dairy farmer group plans to call for a delay on any increase. The Canadian Dairy Commission — the Crown corporation managing Canada’s milk […] Read more


Baby arugula grows in GoodLeaf farms’ vertically integrated Guelph, Ont., location. 
The Calgary facility is set to begin operations in November.

There goes the sun

Vertical farm takes Mother Nature out of the picture and augments food supply, says CEO

Reading Time: 4 minutes Give Barry Murchie just a few words to describe GoodLeaf Farms’ new Calgary-based farm facility and he’d probably say it’s a completely controlled vertically integrated operation that grows leafy greens, baby greens and microgreens. Give the GoodLeaf president and CEO a few more words and he’ll call it a step forward in Canada’s food sovereignty. […] Read more

(Okea/iStock/Getty Images)

Soil biodiversity deserves protection

Reading Time: 3 minutes Soil is the most biodiverse habitat on the planet. According to recent research, it’s home to 59 per cent of all life on Earth, from an insect feeding on the soil surface to a tiny microbe nestled in a soil pore. The same paper estimates that around two million species of arthropod (think insects and […] Read more