'We have seven kids at home': Sask. shoppers, grocery stores brace for expected surge in food prices

SASKATOON -

Food prices are expected to rise by almost $1,000 for the average family through 2022, according to a new report.

It’s concerning for La Ronge resident Rance Ball. He said the cost of groceries is already considerably high in northern communities, with most items costing 50 per cent more than they do in cities like Saskatoon.

“I’m looking everywhere I can to cut costs, growing my own, doing whatever I can. We have seven kids at home,” Ball told CTV News.

Ball isn’t the only one worried about his bottom line.

“I don’t know how ordinary people are going to survive with the cost of food going up the way it will because it’s already gone up considerably,” Bev Canaday said.

• Get the CTV News app for Saskatoon breaking news alerts and top stories 

She added that it’ll be even harder for people with certain dietary restrictions.

“Specialized food is going to go up even more, right, because organics cost more to produce.”

The 12th edition of Canada’s Food Price Report projects that the average family of four will spend up to $14,767 on food in 2022, which is $966 more than in 2021.

The report said food prices are expected to increase by five to seven per cent next year as the country grapples with COVID-19 and ongoing transportation and supply chain issues.

Dairy products are expected to go up by six to eight per cent while baked goods and vegetables are expected to increase by five to seven per cent, according to the report.

Fruits, meat and seafood will also see slight rises.

Dad’s Organic Market in Saskatoon, which offers specialty foods and options for people on special diets, is already seeing price increases.

“It’s been kind of a couple tough years with COVID happening and then the floods in B.C. and rising inflation. I would say on the daily, we get emails from our suppliers, anywhere from three to 11 per cent, production costs are going up with them, supplies, they can’t get stuff,” executive director of Dad’s Organic Market Rebecca Dyck said.

“It just seems like it goes up and up and up and it just becomes unsustainable for a lot of different industries.”

Dyck said Dad’s Organic Market is already quite expensive because it is specialized, so whenever it gets a discount from the supplier, it passes it along to the customer so they can save money.

“It’s expensive to live and you know, wages aren’t going up at the rate of the cost for people, so that’s going to hit them hard because food is a necessity, everybody needs to eat,” she said.

The report said it will also cost Canadians more to eat out, with prices at restaurants expected to go up by six to eight per cent in 2022.

Stuart Smyth, an associate professor in the department of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Saskatchewan and the Agri-Food Innovation and Sustainability enhancement chair, is a co-author of the report.

He said the challenge with restaurants is that their margins have become even tighter.

“Part of that is due to just the shortage of staff across the industry, the inability of some restaurants to be open as many hours due to labour shortages, so that trickles down into higher prices for the meals that they’re able to sell during an operation day.”

Smyth added that climate change is another factor in the rising food prices, citing the heat waves across Canada over the summer that had devastating impacts on crops.

“It might be something that wipes out tomato production in the southern U.S. or banana production in Ecuador, so it might not be an event that happens locally, but it can certainly have significant impacts on the price of food products that ultimately make their way to our grocery store shelves,” he said.

“It’s sort of an unfortunate perfect storm where these issues come together and really hammer food prices.”

With wages unlikely to keep up with rising food prices, experts say people can find ways to save by watching for sales, doing meal prep and avoiding buying from third party brands.