“We are ensuring a fair and equitable environment for our growers, which is fundamental for the prosperity of the entire supply chain,” said FVGC in a news release.

FVGC’s executive director, Rebecca Lee, is listed as a member of the steering committee in charge of developing the code.

The industry-developed code, which proposes rules for fairness and transparency in the grocery sector, is expected to stabilize growers’ incomes, the FVGC said.

“Canada’s Grocery Sector Code of Conduct acts as a protective measure for the entire supply chain,” it added. “It addresses longstanding issues such as payment terms and contract fairness, which are crucial for the viability and sustainability of Canadian growers.”

It isn’t expected to increase costs to consumers, the news release said.

The code has run into headwinds in recent days as two of Canada’s largest grocers expressed reluctance to sign on to it.

Last week, Loblaw executive chair Galen Weston told the standing agriculture committee the code as currently written would cause higher prices, and Walmart Canada chief executive officer Gonzalo Gebera expressed similar sentiments.

Weston said Loblaw takes issue with clauses that govern written contracts with suppliers, whether retailers can charge suppliers fees when orders aren’t fulfilled, and others.

Michael Medline, CEO of Empire Company Ltd., which owns Sobeys, supports the code.

“This code is not a document comprising overly prescriptive regulations, but simply a straightforward set of principles of good behaviour developed by industry itself. That’s it. It won’t increase food prices, as Loblaw has claimed,” said Gary Sands, senior vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

–with files from Karen Briere. Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AGCanada.com.

The post Grocery code will stabilize producer incomes, say fruit and vegetable growers appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

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 already published this increase in October, but said Wednesday that “exceptional circumstances” led to the decision to postpone its implementation.

The milk pricing formula includes 50 per cent of the year-over-year change in cost of production and 50 per cent of the change in the Consumer Price Index, or overall inflation.

After the commission published its proposal for the national pricing formula last month, however, the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG) invoked an “exceptional circumstances” process that leads to an additional round of consultations between the CDC and other stakeholder organizations.

Those stakeholder groups include the Consumer Association of Canada, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC), Dairy Processors Association of Canada, Restaurants Canada and the Retail Council of Canada, along with the CFIG.

During consultations, DFC said it recommended the delay because of ongoing food inflation.

Grocery stores have been under pressure from consumers and the federal government to stabilize prices, although some observers say most of the price increases are due to multiple factors within the supply chain.

Price changes for consumer products will vary on those factors.

Officials noted Wednesday the 1.77 per cent increase is well below the current overall inflation rate of 4.4 per cent.

— Karen Briere reports for the Regina bureau of the Western Producer.

The post Farmgate milk price hike delayed to May appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The Canadian Dairy Commission — the Crown corporation managing Canada’s milk supply — on Oct. 6 published the results of its Cost of Production survey, as a precursor to setting the annual milk price adjustment due to take effect Feb. 1, 2024.

The commission pegged the 2023 indexed Cost of Production (iCOP) at $93.09 per standard hectolitre, down 1.43 per cent from $94.44 in 2022, but marked the consumer price index (CPI) at 155.4, up 4.98 per cent from the 2022 level of 148.

The commission’s national pricing formula (NPF) is based on 50 per cent of the annual change in iCOP and 50 per cent of the change in the CPI, which in this case would result in an increase of 1.7736 per cent effective Feb. 1, 2024 — although the commission said that figure “is not necessarily equivalent to the next price adjustment.”

READ MORE: Farm-gate milk price increase predictable, says economist

The commission had given stakeholder groups until Friday (Oct. 13) to declare if they wish to invoke the “exceptional circumstances” process — which in turn triggers an additional discussion period with those groups but won’t necessarily lead to a change in the price adjustment.

The participating stakeholder groups include Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) as well as the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG), Dairy Processors of Canada, Retail Council of Canada, Restaurants Canada and Consumer Association of Canada.

With two out of three criteria met for invoking the exceptional circumstances mechanism — namely, an “unexpected event” in the view of the stakeholder making the request, and a spread of more than five percentage points between the change in iCOP and CPI — the CFIG has requested the process, the commission said in a statement Friday.

If the exceptional circumstances process hadn’t been triggered, the NPF result would have applied, and the commission would have moved on to hold consultations on the support price for butter.

Now, however, the commission said Friday its NPF result is suspended and the board will hold pricing consultations with stakeholder groups between Tuesday and next Monday (Oct. 23).

But the commission said it will still make a final milk pricing announcement by no later than Nov. 1, to take effect next Feb. 1.

‘In solidarity’

And while the NPF calculations may support a farmgate milk price adjustment of 1.77 per cent, DFC said in a separate statement Friday it will “recommend that this adjustment be delayed.”

“Dairy farmers and their families are also consumers and experience the high cost of food these days,” DFC president David Wiens said. “Recognizing the current level of food inflation and in solidarity with all Canadians, we have recommended the Canadian Dairy Commission delay its application of the price adjustment on milk until further notice.”

However, he added, the retail prices consumers pay for dairy are “ultimately determined by other players in the supply chain. Our hope is that our decision will result in other actors maintaining the price of dairy products at a time when food inflation hovers around nine per cent.”

The commission, in setting the 2023 iCOP, noted dairy farmers saw increases in most indexed key costs, including interest rates.

However, the commission added, those increases were offset by decreases in other costs, such as purchased feed; fuel and oil; and fertilizers and herbicides.

At the close of the cost indexation period in August, the commission said, “several indices seem to stabilize,” such as land and building repairs, and machinery and equipment repairs. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Hold off on milk price hike, dairy farmers say appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne made the announcement after two hours of what he said were difficult discussions with the chains.

Champagne, who summoned the executives to Ottawa, reiterated a threat that the government could impose new taxes if the chains do not come up with a plan to help address budget-busting price increases.

“They have agreed to support the government of Canada in our efforts to stabilize prices in Canada,” Champagne told reporters, without giving details.

“This is a step in the right direction,” he said. “We’ll keep on pushing them — trust me, this is just the beginning.”

Champagne said in a separate statement the government wants to see “concrete actions” from the retailers by Thanksgiving (Oct. 9).

However, he said, any such actions “must not negatively impact small suppliers or the price that farmers receive for their products.”

Any moves by the grocers, he said, also must not impact “pricing mechanisms as determined by supply-managed industries” such as Canada’s dairy, egg and poultry sectors.

The Liberals are trailing in the polls and facing complaints about the high cost of living and a lack of affordable housing.

One of the five executives at the meeting, Metro CEO Eric La Fleche, said the chains were keen to do all they could but dismissed the idea that they alone were to blame.

“We’re all committed to finding solutions to stabilize prices … it’s an industry issue. Any conversation has to include all the manufacturers, producers, farmers and everybody,” the CEO said.

“It’s not just about the retailers, the minister understands that very clearly.”

The other chains attending the meeting were Loblaws, Sobeys, Walmart and Costco, which together with Metro represent 80 per cent of the Canadian market.

As part of the government’s push to cope with high prices, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week announced a tax break designed to boost the construction of new rental apartment buildings and relieve pressure on the Canadian housing market.

Karina Gould, the minister in charge of pushing the government’s agenda through the House of Commons, said she would shortly introduce wide-ranging draft legislation designed to help curb inflation.

Polls show the official opposition Conservatives, who blame high inflation on Trudeau for what they call excessive government spending, would win an election if one were held now, ending eight years of Liberal rule.

— Reporting for Reuters by Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

The post Major grocery chains agree to help stabilize prices, feds say appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

After meeting with Liberal Party legislators in London, Ont., Trudeau said the government asked the executives of the five largest grocery chains, including Loblaw, Sobeys and Metro, to come to Ottawa next week to explain how they will stabilize prices. The five companies, representing 80 per cent of the Canadian grocery market, have until Oct. 9 to come up with a proposal.

“If their plan doesn’t provide real relief … we will take further action and we are not ruling anything out, including tax measures,” Trudeau said.

“It does not make sense in a country like Canada that our largest grocery chains should be making record profits while Canadians are struggling to put food on the table.”

In 2022, Canada’s three largest grocers — Loblaw, Sobeys, and Metro — collectively reported more than $100 billion in sales and earned more than $3.6 billion in profit.

Trudeau, who is under pressure over a lack of affordable housing, said his government will remove the federal five per cent sales tax on the construction of new rental apartment buildings.

“There are many developers and builders that are not moving forward with building new apartments because the costs are simply too high,” Trudeau said, adding the measure will lead to the creation of many new apartment buildings.

Trudeau’s minority government is propped up by left-leaning New Democrats and a federal election is only due in 2025. But opinion polls show the main opposition Conservatives, who accuse Trudeau of driving inflation through high government spending, would win power and end eight years of Liberal rule if an election were held now.

Boosting competition

Several grocery executives denied profiteering charges in a parliamentary committee earlier this year. But the lack of competition in the grocery sector has also irked the federal competition watchdog, and in June, it said more players were crucial to combat soaring prices of essential goods.

Trudeau waded into that debate on Thursday and said his government will remove provisions in competition laws that companies use to defend big mergers, saying cost savings outweigh negative impacts on competition.

Soaring food prices have been a concern for European governments as well and in March the French government reached a deal with the country’s main supermarket chains to help shoppers cope with food prices.

But the Retail Council of Canada pushed back against Trudeau’s claims and blamed the surging prices on food manufacturers and producers passing on higher costs to the grocers.

The association’s spokesperson Michelle Wasylyshen said any “credible discussion” on restoring prices must include food processors, manufacturers and other relevant businesses within the supply chain.

Sobeys and Walmart Canada had no immediate comment, while Metro declined comment. Loblaw said the company was “always open to discussions about what more can be done across the industry.”

In July, Trudeau shuffled much of his cabinet to focus on issues like a housing shortage and the rising cost of living and on Thursday he reiterated that he had no plan to quit.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Thursday again blamed the housing crisis on Trudeau, and said he would introduce his own plan to get homes built to parliament when it reconvenes next week after the summer break.

— Reporting for Reuters by David Ljunggren and Steve Scherer; additional reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bangalore; writing by Denny Thomas.

The post Trudeau summons top grocers over rising food prices appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Price rises for store-bought food have been outpacing the broader annual inflation rate for 10 consecutive months, and grew 11.4 per cent in September, the fastest pace in over four decades, according to Statistics Canada.

“With inflation on the rise, Canadian consumers have seen their purchasing power decline. This is especially true when buying groceries,” the Competition Bureau said in a statement.

Canada’s opposition New Democrats (NDP), who have a deal to keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority government in power until 2025, have been calling out grocery chain operators for high food prices.

Last week, the House of Commons supported an NDP proposal asking the government to make grocery store operators more accountable and impose tougher penalties for price-fixing and stronger competition laws.

The Competition Bureau said it would study whether competition factors were impacting the price of food — on top of other factors including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supply chain disruptions — but it was not investigating specific allegations of wrongdoing.

Results from the study are expected to be released in June. The bureau also opened up an eight-week public comment period on the matter, for which it will accept submissions until Dec. 16.

The watchdog said the grocery industry was complex and it might not have enough information to draw firm conclusions, but it expected to recommend measures that governments could take to help to improve competition.

Grocery chain operator Loblaw Cos., which reported a quarterly profit of $387 million on $12.85 billion revenue in July, said last week it was freezing prices of some 1,500 products of its in-store “no-name” brand until the end of January.

“Clearly, the rich CEOs of big grocery stores can reduce food costs for Canadian families,” the federal NDP said in a release last week following Loblaw’s announcement.

— Reporting for Reuters by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

The post Competition Bureau to probe soaring food prices appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Even as flood waters start to recede, some parts of the province are expected to face to temporary shortages of dairy supplies, with retailers and officials calling for calm.

A police car escorted a convoy of four Save-On-Foods delivery vans through a roadblock on Highway 7, which was hit by mudslides during the storm, to reach the stranded town of Hope on Thursday afternoon, according to a Reuters witness.

Canada’s westernmost province declared a state of emergency on Wednesday after a phenomenon known as an “atmospheric river” brought a month’s worth of rain in two days. The rainfall washed out roads and railways, cutting off Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region from the rest of the country, and blocking access to some towns entirely.

Pictures on social media showed empty shelves and refrigerators in grocery stores, reminiscent of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as shoppers scrambled to stock up. Photos of one store’s produce section showed nothing left but lemons, limes and cranberries.

Save-On-Foods, Western Canada’s largest grocery retailer and part of the Jim Pattison Group, appealed to customers to avoid hoarding.

“We understand that this is a very stressful and challenging time for many of our communities,” the company said on Twitter. “Please — buy only what your family needs at this time.”

Some three-quarters of B.C.’s milk production was stranded for several days, amounting to a few million litres that farmers had to dump, said Holger Schwichtenberg, chair of the B.C. Dairy Association.

Collections are now resuming, but the region will see a temporary milk shortage before it can access supplies from other regions or provinces, he added.

Some of the worst-affected areas are in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, where 63 dairy farms were ordered to evacuate. The city of Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley supplies half of the dairy, eggs and poultry consumed in British Columbia, with many farms situated on the fertile soils of the low-lying Sumas Prairie, a former lake that was drained a century ago to make way for agriculture.

The mayor of Abbotsford estimated damage to his city alone could be up to $1 billion.

While some towns like Hope, 120 km east of Vancouver, are facing food shortages because they were cut off by highway washouts and mudslides, others are seeing shelves picked clean by panic buying.

“In parts of the province, particularly the interior, there has been significant and not well-understood consumer panic,” said Greg Wilson, director of B.C. government relations for the Retail Council of Canada.

“There are highways open between B.C. and Alberta and there is capacity in Alberta to supply the interior of B.C.”

Wilson said Vancouver and the Lower Mainland can access more food supplies from Washington state to the south, and the rerouting of supply chains was already underway.

— Reporting for Reuters by Nia Williams and Rod Nickel; additional reporting by Jesse Winter in Agassiz, B.C.

The post Panicked shoppers clear out flood-hit B.C.’s grocery stores appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Canada’s agriculture ministers are now calling on industry to lead the process.

They had formed the working group to study the issue in November, following complaints from suppliers that retailers were increasingly charging arbitrary, and costly, fees.

A summary report released Thursday said those fees are “causing tensions” in supply chain relationships, particularly between processors and retailers, as “fees have increased in their form and scale, and they have changed in the manner in which they are imposed.”

To find a regulated or legislated approach, the working group says provincial action would likely be required, but stakeholders operating on a national level contend doing so could lead to “disjointed provincial action, which could lead to inconsistent applications and loopholes if some provinces chose not to take action or do so differently.”

One potential approach being pitched is the development of a voluntary code of conduct with detailed rules to guide commercial relationships, while also providing a dispute resolution process.

Some stakeholders have proposed the creation of this, but there are concerns it might not be widely adopted and could lead to competitive distortions — for example, if only some businesses would be subject to paying compliance costs.

Making the code of conduct mandatory, which also has support in some sectors, could be implemented through legislation if needed. Critics warn doing so made lead to a lack of uniformity across the country as province’s each pass separate, potentially differing, laws.

Following Thursday’s meeting of Canada’s agriculture ministers, a readout from the proceedings called on “industry to lead a collaborative process to develop broad consensus around a concrete proposal to improve transparency, predictability, and respect for the principles of fair dealing.”

The ministers said the industry-led process will work alongside the working group.

Another update to agriculture ministers will likely be on the agenda at their next meeting, scheduled for December.

The dairy industry continues to be one of the loudest voices on the topic. In a release, the Dairy Processors Association of Canada (DPAC) welcomed the report’s findings.

“As a supply-managed industry, the arbitrary fees and penalties levied by large retailers create additional pressures for Canada’s dairy processors,” said Mathieu Frigon, DPAC’s CEO.

“We have heard from dairy processors across the country that this is a pressing issue and it is good to see that FPT ministers have come to the same conclusion. Now the important work toward an acceptable solution begins.”

The working group’s chair, Quebec Agriculture Minister Andre Lamontagne, said in a separate release Thursday it’s “essential to ensure more healthy relations between retailers and small processors and producers, who are particularly sensitive to uncertainty created by the fees imposed on them.”

However, he said he’s “optimistic” about sector players’ commitment to finding a mutually satisfactory solution.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

The post Industry-led code of conduct for food retailers on horizon appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Los Angeles-based Beyond Meat on Wednesday launched the “latest iteration” of its flagship Beyond Burger, billed as “produced locally at a co-manufacturing facility in Canada” and available now through major grocery retailers across the country.

Beyond Meat didn’t say in Wednesday’s release who its co-packer is or where in Quebec it operates, but said “producing the Beyond Burger locally in Canada enables Beyond Meat to better serve the Canadian market, while reducing the company’s environmental footprint.”

Per patty, the latest Beyond Burger offers 20 grams of protein from plant-based ingredients such as peas, mung beans and rice, with marbling made from cocoa butter to melt and tenderize like beef, the company said.

Beyond Meat didn’t say Wednesday exactly how the new product differs from what it has sold until now at Canadian retail, but said it “represents Beyond Meat’s commitment to creating plant-based protein that is indistinguishable (in terms of taste, texture, colour and cooking experience) from its animal protein equivalent.”

Beyond Meat early this year announced it had locked in a multi-year pea protein supply deal with French processing firm Roquette, which itself is expanding its space in the Canadian pea market with a plant under construction at Portage la Prairie, Man.

Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger has been in the Canadian retail market since June last year, followed by Beyond Beef and, more recently, Beyond Sausage.

The company has also brought its products to the Canadian fast food market, through chains including A+W, McDonald’s, Tim Hortons and Subway.

Tim Hortons last year dialed back its Beyond Meat use to the Ontario and B.C. markets. McDonald’s ran a 12-week test of a “P.L.T.” Beyond Burger in southwestern Ontario earlier this year, but hasn’t yet said if it will take that sandwich into other markets, either within Canada or anywhere else.

Beyond Meat didn’t say Wednesday whether its Quebec partner will supply faux-meat for the company’s Canadian restaurant or foodservice customers, or strictly for retail. A message to company representatives Wednesday wasn’t immediately returned. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Beyond Meat lines up Canadian patty co-packer appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The $50 million Surplus Food Rescue Program — which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau telegraphed in a funding announcement May 5 — will take applications from “organizations addressing food insecurity” from now until July 15, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Monday.

The program — to be administered by the federal agriculture department — is meant to move surplus food through the system “as efficiently as possible to help vulnerable Canadians.”

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the “near closure” of the restaurant and foodservice sectors in both Canada and the U.S., which in turn left producers with surpluses of food and “increased demand from grocery stores alone is not expected to clear the inventory before it spoils,” the government said in a release.

“At the same time, the pandemic has increased the demand for food from food banks and other food security organizations in communities across Canada.”

Bibeau said last week the government had already started to work on the program with businesses that have surpluses they can offer to food bank networks.

The program is to back the “purchase, processing, transportation and redistribution of surplus food… that may be fresh, frozen inventory or in need of further processing due to its highly perishable nature.”

Surplus commodities eligible for the program can include foods in fresh form as well as those that need to be processed and packaged into “shelf-stable” products for storage or distribution.

Surplus foods, once processed, must be donated and are not to be resold, AAFC added.

Applicants can include not-for-profit and for-profit organizations, such as industry groups, processors, distributors, food serving agencies, regional and municipal governments, schools, school boards and other agencies.

But applicants must also “demonstrate an ability to handle the full logistical requirements for acquiring, processing, transporting and ensuring shelf-life stability of surplus commodities and delivery to organizations serving vulnerable populations.”

The program is meant to address “urgent, high-volume, highly perishable surplus products falling under horticulture, meat and fish and seafood,” the government said.

“Priority consideration for surplus commodities that have immediate risk of loss will be determined first,” the government said. It gave potatoes and “some aquaculture products” as examples of goods that “need immediate processing or will be lost or destroyed.”

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said it will take an “inclusive and challenge-based approach” with applicants.

Contributions from the program will be paid out to organizations which, among other criteria, can “acquire and move the most surplus product.” Applicants will need to identify the amount to be moved.

Applicants must also show they have the “most cost-effective approach” in acquiring food — for example, at or below the cost of production, or through donations where possible. They’ll also have to show they can provide the most cost-effective approach — at “minimal cost” — for processing if goods can’t be distributed otherwise.

They’ll also have to show they can be the most efficient at drawing down surplus stocks quickly, from wholesale purchases through to food-serving agencies, and that they have partnerships “already established along the supply chain” — including connections to food-serving agencies.

AAFC, which is targeting up to 10 per cent of all food specifically for northern communities, also said applicants will need to be able to make sure food reaches “the most vulnerable and remote communities” in Canada.

“Nobody wants to see food go to waste, and thanks to this new program, we’re helping the industry redistribute surplus products to vulnerable, local communities where it can make a real difference in someone’s life,” Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said in Monday’s release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Federal surplus food program now taking applications appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.