The National Farmers Union (NFU) said consumers paid 30 per cent more for groceries in 2026 than 2020, but farmers’ prices remained stagnant.
It called for a cap on supermarket chain profits and for local community grocery stores to provide competition.
The four largest supermarket chains in Canada doubled their profits to more than $6 billion, the NFU said, The average between 2015 and 2018 was $2 billion.
Anderson Arts, executive director of British Columbia Fruit Growers Association, said “this report highlights a growing disconnect between rising retail prices and stagnant returns at the farmgate. For B.C.tree fruit farmers, that gap is critical.
“Our costs continue to climb, but our share of the retail dollar does not. If that trend continues, it directly threatens the viability of family farms and the stability of Canada’s food supply,” he said.
Corporate power is the common enemy of Canadian farmers and consumers, and it is a time for all of us to come together to fight for meaningful, structural policy changes that will curb corporate greed, the NFU said.
I agree that the supermarket chains are greedy, but there is also corporate concentration in beef, pork, chicken and turkeys, in fertilizer suppliers, in egg grading and processing, to name only a few.
A closer look at their revenues and profits might prompt the NFU to broaden its concerns.
