The Liberal government's minimum wage hike will cost Ontario fruit and vegetable growers $297 million over the next two years. The impact on the industry was calculated by professional consultants and presented to all levels of the provincial government, but Premier Kathleen Wynne, Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) and senior bureaucrats chose not to listen,... Read More
Category: Food
In an era where "offensive" seems to have an ever-widening set of definitions, a group of police officers found themselves under the defensive wing of journalist and television personality Piers Morgan. How it all started Members of the North Wales Rural Crime Team wanted to support local farmers after the country's National Farmers Union hosted... Read More
According to the dictionary, a sin tax is "a tax on items considered undesirable or harmful, such as alcohol or tobacco." There is mounting pressure from activist groups to add animal proteins to that list of so-called "sinful" items. They argue meat creates added healthcare costs and negative impacts on the environment. It might sound... Read More
With all of the hype around synthetic meat and plant based burgers, it appears consumers still have a taste and desire for regular old meat. In the 2017 wrap-up show on RealAg Radio, Kelvin Heppner described "plant-based meat" as one of the most overused terms of 2017 and consumers are not buying the Silicon Valley... Read More
When Loblaw Co. and parent company George Weston admitted late Tuesday that it engaged in a bread price-fixing scheme, consumers and experts that follow the industry closely were all blown away. "Shocked and disappointed" is how Dalhousie University's Sylvain Charlebois describes his reaction to Loblaw's admission that they have been fixing the price of bread.... Read More
Loblaw Companies and parent company George Weston Limited have admitted to participating in "industry-wide" price-fixing of bread for 14 years, dating from 2001 to March of 2015. "Under the arrangement, the participants regularly increased prices on a coordinated basis. The participants included Loblaw and the Weston Bakeries division of George Weston as well as other... Read More
Plant-based "meat" is gaining a new level of mainstream presence, as McDonald's is planning to debut a vegan burger in Europe next week. The McVegan will be added to the menu in Sweden and Finland on December 28th, after testing in a limited number of Finnish restaurants this fall. Produced by Anamma, a subsidiary of... Read More
One of the five publications market analyst and consultant Kevin Grier Market offers is an in-depth look at the Canadian grocery trade. "StatsCan publishes financial data every quarter," explains Grier in the following interview, "and I get them to peel away the food retail data...and once again the gross retail margins are looking very good... Read More
The average Canadian family of four will spend $348 more on food in 2018, according to an annual food price report released on Wednesday. Published by Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph, the 8th edition of "Canada's Food Price Report" forecasts higher restaurant spending and La Nina will drive food costs higher next year,... Read More
In the dairy food value chain processors play an integral role in product development. Dairy product development puts dairy components in protein bars, protein powder, ice cream, yogurt and baby formula. to name just a few. At Farm Journal's MILK Business Conference, attendees heard from Micheal Dykes, President and CEO of the International Dairy Foods... Read More