NEWS

“While you have many boats and many farms, you have a small number of terminals that can sort of bung the system significantly when they’re not working,”

If it is not settled soon, farmers on the prairies will feel it.

"Its not just dairy prices that are going up."

"We’re highlighting dairy because there was an announcement but we’re ignoring the other because they don’t get announced in advance."

"These supply impacts last years."

"These supply impacts last years."

Food prices are expected to rise in the fall.

The discussion ranged from farm labour to food prices and beyond.

For any residents that need more convincing, Massow points back to how suppliers adjusted after these shortages.

“The system caught up and it was okay, and we’re not going to be fundamentally short of these products long term.

"Von Massow says the fee increase will almost certainly be passed on to consumers, and could lead to a consolidation of choice on store shelves if some suppliers can't afford the increase in fees."

Instead, von Massow thinks the industry will have to adopt the pricing strategies airlines and hotels have long been using, with higher rates for peak demand times to maximize revenue from those time slots and lower prices for less popular times to divert some customers to those slots.

"We have seen rushes on food and grocery items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer that have resulted in some short-term shortages in stores. Some have questioned the resilience of our food system and whether we could run out of food. The easy answer is we are not running out of food."

"The temporary closure of an Alberta meat processing facility due to a COVID-19 outbreak isn't expected to result in beef shortages, but the reduction in capacity will mean that ranchers will bear the brunt as their costs rise and prices for their product fall."

"An increase in online grocery shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to issues with order backlogs and limited stock."

"The most immediate impact of these plants shutting down will be on the farmers who depend on these plants as their primary way of accessing markets. In some cases, producers can divert their animals to other processing plants, but this increases costs and might also decrease returns."

"As a trip to the supermarket becomes a source of frustration and an anxiety-inducing experience for shoppers, new technology is emerging to help make it easier."

"The temporary closure of an Alberta meat processing facility due to a COVID-19 outbreak isn't expected to result in beef shortages, but the reduction in capacitywill mean that ranchers will bear the brunt as their costs rise and prices for their product fall."

"Grocery stores are seeing an unprecedented jump in the number of online orders for both delivery and pick up, and that's left companies scrambling and customers dealing with long waits, limited stock and cancelled orders, says food economist Mike von Massow from the University of Guelph."

"COVID-19 has transformed the way people eat food and that is having wide-ranging impacts on what farm products are hot sellers and what are flops, says a food industry analyst."

"Mike Von Massow, food economist with the University of Guelph joins us with more on food production being halted because of the crisis"

"Stress-baking has become a popular pandemic pastime, and some people are compelled to stockpile. This situation has led to a rush on eggs"

"Shoppers are facing empty shelves at some stores due to unprecedented demand for food and other goods even as grocers assure Canadians coping with the COVID-19 outbreak that plenty of new items are on the way and manufacturers say they have the raw materials they need."

"Households lose up to $1,600 a year as well as key nutrients through avoidable food waste, say University of Guelph researchers who have completed the most in-depth known study worldwide on the growing problem."

"The federal government has unveiled details of the country’s first national food policy, with a plan that emphasizes the importance of access to healthy and nutritious food and the need for collaboration between the many different groups involved in the food system."

"SUPERMARKETS are full of food, but they are also full of packaging: cereal bagged in plastic sits inside a cardboard box, cucumbers are shrink-wrapped with care. Now trendy packaging-free shops are popping up in Europe and North America where you bring your own containers and buy exactly as much as you need."

"Nationally, Canada has experienced a growth in cropland. Is this trend evident in Ontario, too?Slightly less than 100 million acres of farmland in Canada are classified as cropland in the 2016 agricultural census. In total, 10 per cent of this cropland is in Ontario.  Cropland in Canada has increased by about 87 per cent since this data was first recorded in 1921. The figure also grew by 7 per cent between 2011 and 2016. Much of the growth in cropland can be attributed to the conversion of summerfallow, which is predominately a Western Canada farming practice, into cropland." 

"Almost 60 per cent of all the food produced in Canada is wasted. That was the finding of a study by consultant Value Chain Management International released earlier this year. While some of this waste is unavoidable (bone, vegetable peelings, coffee grounds), the total financial value of the potentially rescuable wasted food is a staggering $50 billion in Canada according to the report which was commissioned by Second Harvest, a Toronto-based group working to reduce food waste."

"If you've noticed your greens are costing you a little more green, you're not alone — especially when it comes to celery. The celery juice diet craze might be thinning out more wallets than waistlines."

"Imagine going into a grocery store where those who ran it could see everything you look at, much less buy. Creepy? Yes. Effective in researching consumer behaviour? You bet. So it's a good thing that (for now, at least) the University of Guelph's Food Retail Lab is just a pretend grocery store."

"On a fall morning at Feed it Forward, staff members unpack crates of apples, greens and berries for display at this storefront in the west end of Toronto. It’s quiet now, but students, seniors and other regulars will come by later to stock up on bread, produce, canned foods and prepared meals. They take what they need and go — or drop $5 or $20 in the donation jar at the counter." (Photo: Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)

"Learn how to cook. A simple but essential element to advancing food security, increasing the quality of food you eat and reducing food waste. That was one of the key points stressed by a panel of food experts Tuesday night at the Guelph Y." (Tony Saxon/GuelphToday)

"Farmers have been repeatedly educated on the importance of social media. "This has been happening for years at agricultural conferences across Canada. Because of all those presentations, thousands of producers now use social media to connect with consumers and explain the food production practices on their farm. But are those efforts making a difference?"

"When it comes to wasting food, hospitals are one of the most egregious culprits, with two to three times more waste than other food service sectors. UC San Francisco Medical Center, however, has found that one change cut the amount of food it wastes by 30%. It now serves food on-demand."

"The challenge with food information is to separate the fact from the fiction, the ephemeral from the soon-to-be everyday. The University of Guelph’s newest Food Focus Trends Report highlights six key trends likely to be front and centre this year."

"With the release of a new Canada’s Food Guide, Ottawa has dramatically overhauled the advice it gives to Canadians on how to eat, including an explicit endorsement of plant-based diets at the expense of meat and dairy."

"Other shoppers say they like to walk the aisles, to see what’s new or be reminded of things they may need. They’re not alone: 81 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they preferred to get their groceries in store, compared to 70 per cent globally, University of Guelph food economics professor Michael von Massow reported."

“This is the sort of death by a thousand cuts that the dairy industry is talking about,” said von Massow. “All of these little amounts add up to a significant chunk of the market place.”

"Two University of Guelph researchers will receive grants totalling nearly $1.3 million from the Walmart Foundation. Both grants will support food waste reduction projects by U of G professors Mike von Massow, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, and Mario Martinez, School of Engineering."