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By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

Prairie Wheat Commissions set record straight on wheat prices and food costs

Dec 16, 2020 | 8:54 AM

Three commodity groups from the Prairie provinces are taking exception with a recent Canadian Press story about the price of food.

The Alberta Wheat Commission, Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, and the Manitoba Crop Alliance have issued a joint release questioning the part in the story about a projected 3.5 to 5.5 per cent price increase for bakery products in 2021. The article says a factor in this is a 50 per cent rise in the cost of wheat.

The group says in that release that this “does not reflect the reality of producer prices in Western Canada or food manufacturers’ costs.”

The release says the price farmers were paid for wheat was 3.3 per cent lower in October than it was in April of 2019 and that the value of grains went down 2.7 per cent from April of last year to September of this year. Both figures come from Statistics Canada.

“Wheat producers appreciate that several factors influence store shelf prices, but the cost of wheat is not a major factor in the rise of food costs,” says Sask Wheat Chair Bret Halstad.

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“Canadian consumers have one of the lowest costs for food relative to their incomes while enjoying one of the safest and highest quality food supplies in the world.”

The release goes on to say Canada produces enough wheat to meet demand at home and most of the wheat grown in Canada is exported to international markets.