Reports: Insight into Canadian Food Issues
What we Heard: North American Food Systems Outlook
In North America, our food systems are deeply interconnected and vulnerable to looming environmental, geopolitical and financial changes. We must consider how our food systems can adapt to new challenges, understanding the complexity of the system, the levers for change and the trade-offs that must be managed as we work towards resilience.
Following the Stress Testing the North American Food System event that took place February 2-4, 2025, we have assembled a “what we heard” report that outlines the changes participants cited as being most impactful to the North American Food System between now and 2040.
These include looking at threats from environmental, geopolitical and financial perspectives. Some of the most anticipated threats that were top of mind include water scarcity, trade wars and tariffs, soil health, managing agri-food pathogens and the loss of biodiversity. Some of the most anticipated opportunities include regenerative agriculture, supporting policies and investments, productivity gains through technology and increased investment in agricultural innovations.
Monitoring and Measuring Food Loss and Waste in Canada: A Snapshot
This report, informed by interviews with key stakeholders, provides insight into the current state of food loss and waste monitoring and measurement practices in Canada as well as the barriers and opportunities for improving the uptake of these practices and the development of more accurate, granular data systems. This report concludes with suggested strategies for how government and industry can move forward on this important issue.
Spotlight Reports
Spotlight is an interdisciplinary investigation into timely, topical issues relevant to our food systems. Comprised of workshops, short papers and other media, experts developed recommendations to help decision makers find next steps to these complicated topics.
Supply Management 2.0
Food Price Reports
Every December a team of University of Guelph, and now Dalhousie University, researchers release the Food Price Report. The report reflects on last year’s results and predicts where Canadian food prices are headed for the upcoming year, bringing food research to the public.
Food Price Report 2025
Canada’s Food Price Report 2025 predicts families to pay up to $800 more in 2025.
Food Price Report 2024
Canada’s Food Price Report 2024 predicts families to pay up to $700 more in 2024
Food Price Report 2023
Canada’s Food Price Report 2023 predicts Canadian families will spend up to $1065 more on food next year.
Food Price Report 2022
Canada’s Food Price Report 2022 predicts a 5% to 7% increase in food costs.
Food Price Report 2021
Canada’s Food Price Report 2021 predicts annual food expenditure could go up by as much as $695 compared to 2020.
Food Price Report 2020
The 2020 report forecasts a 2 to 4% increase in food prices for Canadian families.
Food Price Report 2016
For 2016, the Food Institute is forecasting food inflation rates across the country to be anywhere between 2.0% to 4.0%. Our forecast predicts the average household could spend up to $345 more on food in 2016.
Food Price Report 2015
The Food Price Report is authored by Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Dr. Michael von Massow, Dr. Francis Tapon, Dr. Erna van Duren, Paul Uys, Warren Pinto and Amit Summan, and intends to predict food price trends for 2015.
2015 Forecast Revision
Recently, the economic landscape in Canada has significantly shifted, with wide-ranging effects. The Food Institute of the University of Guelph released its annual retail price report when the Canadian dollar was worth $0.88 against the American dollar. The loonie’s sudden fall compelled the Food Institute to revise its food retail price forecast for 2015 for the second time in 5 years.