How Canada’s fragile food supply chain is being disrupted

Thinly stocked produce shelves. Handwritten signs apologizing for empty freezer racks. Customers shopping for certain items, and leaving with a hodgepodge of substitutions.

Because our food system is so tightly calibrated, any one problem can result in massive food shortages across the country, said Evan Fraser, director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph. He pointed to last week’s threat on produce supply, after the delayed arrival of thousands of temporary foreign workers.

Food plants have faced similar problems. Even before the pandemic, food plants were operating with a 10-per-cent labour shortage, in large part because of an aging work force. Once the pandemic hit, that rose to 15 to 20 per cent. Now, with the rapid spread of Omicron, the shortage at food plants is about 30 per cent, said Food and Beverage Canada CEO Kathleen Sullivan.

Ms. Sullivan acknowledged that in the long term, the industry needs to look at many other solutions: automation, skills training – and reassessing compensation. This puts into jeopardy Canada’s access to much of the roughly $26-billion worth of food imported from the U.S. every year. About 70 per cent of that is brought to Canada on a truck.

Canada has a vast amount of Food Producers Canadians just need a way to connect with them 🤠 Introducing G’day! ReconnectWithYourFood

How did it go? We are here to create new jobs. You will not have anything to put in, your eyes will open.

Everyone in Canada should be concerned about this.

Tell me about it! Tomatoes, where can I get some Roma tomatoes? 🥲

The meat case at all the stores in my town were baron. I asked every store when to expect the next shipment and was told 'We aren't sure, things have been arriving whenever, check back regularly'. It's ugly already and there is absolutely no need for it except Trudeau's idiocy!

Huntsville, ON

“The supply chain will supply itself!” - Justin Trudeau (probably)

You can add awful decisions from our government to this list.

China’s not gonna help us

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