Food inflation spiked 7.3% in January. Here’s what’s driving the increase

OTTAWA - Statistics Canada reported an easing in the headline inflation rate Tuesday but a jump in the pace of food inflation amid tax changes and lingering pressures at the grocery store continue to put the squeeze on consumers.

StatCan said Tuesday that the annual rate of inflation edged down to 2.3 per cent in January. Economists had expected inflation to hold steady at 2.4 per cent.

The agency said gas prices were 16.7 per cent lower year-over-year in January, largely thanks to the end of the consumer carbon price in April. Shelter inflation — long a pain for households in Canada — also fell to its lowest level in nearly five years as rent pressures abate.

Those declines helped offset food inflation, which accelerated to 7.3 per cent annually in January from 6.2 per cent a month earlier.

Food inflation expected to jump in January amid tax changes: economists

OTTAWA - Economists expect tax changes from a year ago will result in a year-over-year surge in food prices when Statistics Canada reports January inflation figures later this week.

StatCan will publish its January consumer price index report on Tuesday, a day later than originally scheduled.

The agency recently adopted a Monday publishing schedule for the consumer price index but shifted the January release to account for a regional holiday in eight provinces.

A Reuters poll of economists expects the annual rate of inflation held steady at 2.4 per cent in January, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Food-culture extremes reverberate back to farm

The absurdity of our civilization’s extreme relationship with food hit me like a runaway snowboard the other night while watching the Ozempic Olympics in between commercials advertising pizza and french fries.

The relentless marketing, alternately promoting weight-loss support and foods that lean towards making us fat, isn’t aimed at the elite winter athletes strutting their stuff on the world stage in Italy. It’s a safe bet they didn’t achieve the peak of human fitness on a diet of pizza and french fries. It’s equally doubtful they require injections of the GLP-1 class of drugs to help manage their weight.

These athletes deserve our admiration and respect, but to be fair to the rest of us, most working stiffs don’t have the time, drive or resources to devote full-time to the pursuit of extreme fitness.

No, those commercials are aimed at the couch potatoes back home, subjecting us to both temptation and a shortcut to redemption as we bear witness to these feats of human endurance.

Agricultural innovation takes hit in federal cuts

Everyone knew cuts to federal programs and jobs were coming.

Something must give if elected officials are to make good on promises to address what many characterized as Canada’s bloated bureaucracy and ballooning deficits, while boosting its military defence systems and protecting the economy from a neighbour gone rogue.

And while the Canadian effort to shrink the cost of governing is a little less dramatic than that in the U.S. a year ago, the application of across-the-board cuts has been anything but surgical.

Farmers and unions, who rarely agree on anything, are united in opposition to news Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is closing three research facilities and four research farms, and cutting around 650 positions. The cuts include a host of programs, including those focused on organic farming, regenerative agriculture and climate adaptation.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announces closure of research operations, job cuts

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says it is closing seven of its research operations as part of the federal government's efforts to cut the size of the public service.

The federal department said research centres in Guelph, Ont., Quebec City and Lacombe, Alta., as well as four satellite research farms across Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are closing.

It said so far, approximately 665 department positions have also been reduced and nearly 1,050 employees received notices on Thursday.

"There are no imminent site closures, and any wind-down of scientific operations would follow a careful decision process that could take up to 12 months," the department said in a statement Friday.

Farm sector weirdness becomes new normal

Farming has never been a wise career choice for people who thrive on predictable outcomes, but last year set a new bar for craziness in what was already a risky business.

Looking ahead, the uncertainty laced with foreboding that heralded the start of 2025 has been replaced in 2026 with the certainty that comes from knowing the chaos will continue.

Just when you think it can’t get any weirder, the government administration south of the border at the centre of it all grabs the headlines once again with something even more unimaginably outlandish.

For example, the announcement late last year that the U.S. is considering placing steep tariffs on two key fertilizers — potash and phosphorus — ostensibly to increase domestic production. Except the U.S. doesn’t have the necessary reserves to develop.

Food sovereignty on menu as farmers from across Canada gather in New Brunswick

Farmers from across Canada are gathering in New Brunswick this week for the annual National Farmers Union convention.

Food sovereignty and justice are themes this year at the gathering of the advocacy group.

Phil Mount, vice-president of policy at the union, says food sovereignty is a timely topic as the trade war with the U.S. has put Canadian food and food producers in the spotlight.

The convention will allow farmers and farm workers from across the county to debate national policies and listen to speakers.

Trump’s trade battle with China puts US soybean farmers in peril

MAGNOLIA, Ky. (AP) — The leafy soybean plants reach Caleb Ragland's thighs and are ripe for harvest, but the Kentucky farmer is deeply worried. He doesn't know where he and others like him will sell their crop because China has stopped buying.

Beijing, which traditionally has snapped up at least a quarter of all soybeans grown in the U.S., is in effect boycotting them in retaliation for the high tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on Chinese goods and to strengthen its hand in negotiations over a new overall trade deal.

It has left American soybean farmers fretting over not only this year's crop but the long-term viability of their businesses, built in part on China's once-insatiable appetite for U.S. beans.

“This is a five-alarm fire for our industry,” said Ragland, who leads the American Soybean Association trade group.

What to know before you try foraging for edible plants and mushrooms in backyards or public spaces

BOSTON (AP) — Amid renewed interest in foraging for edible wild plants, mushrooms and other foodstuffs, experts caution aspiring foragers to prioritize safety, plan carefully and learn proper identification. Here are some things to consider before venturing out to gather food from forests, urban landscapes and elsewhere.

Confirm plant identification

It's critical to avoid accidental poisoning. If you have even the slightest doubt about a plant’s safety, don't touch or taste it. Relying solely on photos from a quick online search also can be dangerous, as those are often misidentified, said Iris Phoebe Weaver, a longtime herbalist and foraging instructor in Massachusetts.

Know toxic look-alikes

Adaptability key in climate change crop fight

Higher food prices and a significant drop in production of wheat — one of Manitoba’s most prominent crops — could come by the century’s end due to climate change, a new study suggests.

Meanwhile, Manitoba wheat farmers are taking measures to adapt their practices and produce greater yields amid changing conditions.

A report published in Nature this week projects Canada, China, Russia and the United States — when grouped together — could lose 30 to 40 per cent of wheat yields if the Earth warms roughly 4.3 C by 2100.

Canada alone could see a 20 per cent reduction, according to the study’s lead author.

‘Time is now’ for new Cereals Canada HQ

Scientists have baked bread, created noodles and processed flour in a tower above the iconic Portage and Main intersection for years.

However, Cereals Canada has been calling for a new, modernized research facility for nearly two decades. As of Thursday, the long-sought project is one step closer: the Manitoba government injected $13 million as a “down payment.”

“If all goes well, we’re going to be there for one-third of this,” Premier Wab Kinew promised.

He stood inside Cereals Canada’s 11th-floor pilot bakery. Delegates from Japan, Britain and Italy, among other countries, have walked through the site, observing how Canadian cereal grain crops could work in their products.

Nova Scotia group wants a court to declare a First Nation’s lobster fishery illegal

HALIFAX - A commercial lobster fishing group in southwestern Nova Scotia is seeking a court to have a lobster fishery run by a First Nations community declared illegal.

The United Fisheries Conservation Alliance says it also wants the court to define the scope and limits that should apply to a fishery operated by the Sipekne’katik First Nation in St. Mary’s Bay.

The group’s lawyer, Michel Samson, says a notice of action was filed Thursday with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

Samson says the alliance is suing because a separate court case — filed by Sipekne’katik First Nation against the federal and Nova Scotia governments — was paused in order to mediate a resolution.

Kindness crops up in harvest for hungry

NEAR LANDMARK — Grain dust billowing in their wake, eight combines drove back and forth across a 100-acre field near Landmark on Tuesday to bring in a harvest for hungry people around the world. The combines were there to take off a crop of wheat for the Landmark Canadian Foodgrains Bank growing project — the first fall harvest for 41 such projects across Manitoba communities. “The field looks good,” said growing project organizer Randy Plett, who farms oilseeds and grains near Landmark. NIC ADAM / FREE PRESS Foodgrains regional representative Gordon Janzen (centre right) and Landmark growing project coordinator Randy […]