Page 30 - RealDirtENG2020

CHAPTER 5
QUICK
FACT
On average in 2019, Canadian farmers spent 80 cents of every dollar they earned on expenses to grow food65.
Food security, eating local and the cost of food
Farming is a critical part of Canada’s national food security, ensuring that our country has enough to eat. But it
takes more than farms to feed a country; we also depend on a whole supply chain of feed, fertilizer and equipment suppliers, veterinarians and crop specialists, transporters, processors, distributors, retailers, and delivery companies to get food to Canadians.
Every one of those links in the supply chain must be able to make money in order to stay in business, and that includes farmers. At the same time, food costs have to be kept affordable for consumers.
The cost of producing food
There are many things farmers have to pay for to produce food, like electricity, equipment, water, fertilizer, animal feed, seeds, and fuel, as well as workers to help them raise livestock and poultry and to grow crops.
As with many things, prices for these items continue to go up, so farmers always have to look for new ways to produce more food more ef ciently so that they can stay in business. And there are things outside of a farmer’s control that impact their business too, like transportation or processing strikes, trade agreements and political spats between countries, weather events, or global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cost of buying food
It might not seem that way to everyone, but most Canadians are lucky to spend less of their income on food than people in most other parts of the world. On average, we spend about 10 to 11 per cent, or $0.10 to $0.11 of each dollar of our disposable income, on food and non- alcoholic beverages63, and by early February, the average Canadian has earned enough income to pay for their individual grocery bill for the entire year.
Compare that gure to Mexicans at 23.4 per cent, Ukrainians at 42.2 per cent, and Nigerians at 59 per cent64 and imagine how different your life would be if you had to spend that much of your income on food.
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The Real Dirt on Farming
Darren Metcalfe