Drought increases the price of your groceries

A severe drought that burns crops to the ground in western Canada raises food prices across Canada.

“Prairies are the bread basket of the world, where crops are going bad, we all pay the price,” says Sylvain Charlboise of the Faculty of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

High temperatures, strong winds, lack of rain and plague of locusts have devastated crops and pastures in Manitoba.

However, when there is a shortage of fodder, it becomes more and more expensive, so the price of meat goes up.

“In December, we expect an average 5% increase in food prices per year. I’m comfortable with this estimate, but it’s average, so for some foods, such as meat, it’s more than that,” explains Mr. Charleboys.

Rise in meats

According to statistics Canada, the number of chickens per kilo since January has already increased by 8%.

Photo courtesy

Sylvain Charlbois
Economist

And “everything goes up when the chicken goes up” refers to the economist. So expect to follow pork and grains like beef and wheat.

As a result, the price of bread and pasta, which are dependent on the price of wheat, have already begun to rise in anticipation of the anemic autumn harvest, details Mr. Charleboys.

On Thursday, Union Agriculture Minister Mary-Claude Fibio was in Manitoba to assess the extent of the damage and announce assistance.

But Martin Karன்n, the first vice president of the Union Des Producers’ Agriculture (UPA) in Quebec, points out that although this is more severe in Quebec than in the West, the drought will not yield to producers here.

For example, the provincial market garden of Monterey received half the water from May 1 to June 30, which he describes as an important period for growth.

And in Quebec

Thus, financier Agricole and its crop insurance program have already received 3,800 damage notices this year, 2,100 by 2020 and an average of 1,200 per year.

Therefore, Mr. Karon does not rule out the need for the province to seek the support of an agricultural resumption program, which would enable producers to resume their operations following a natural disaster.