CALGARY — There’s plenty of fresh vegetables this fall, but a good harvest doesn’t necessarily mean a windfall for growers.
“I can’t remember the last time Alberta or even Western Canada had a year like this for production,” said Prentice Dent, produce manager for the Produce People, a wholesale outlet that buys for southern Alberta retail co-ops.
The big harvest has brought fierce competition among growers from Western Canada and the United States, and that, says many industry officials, has driven prices down.
Alberta cabbage for instance, has gone as low as $4 for a 50-pound (23 kilogram) bag of trimmed, graded and packed cabbage delivered to Calgary or Edmonton this summer. Bins of 1,000 pounds (455 kg) of cabbage sold for $70 — about seven cents a lb. (15 cents a kg) delivered to Calgary. Carrots are down to $9 for 24 two-lb. cello bags said Neil Reid of the Alberta Fresh Vegetable Marketing Board.
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Major retail outlets dominate
Another factor lowering prices paid to Alberta producers is a price war among the big four retail grocery stores, who control more than 50 percent of the supermarket trade in the province.
Reid said stores seem to have a “price is king” mentality right now and he said he is concerned that when the bottom line dictates buying habits, quality dips.
“The market is there, but it’s easier for those companies to buy a semi load of something from California, than it is to buy from four or five smaller producers in Alberta,” he said from his Lethbridge office.
John Vandenberg, who tracks prices and produce supplies for Agriculture Canada, said August prices in British Columbia started about $1.50 lower than last year and Manitoba and Alberta were $3 to $4 lower in 1994.
In B.C. for the first part of October, green cabbage sold for $5.50 f.o.b. for 50 lb. (23 kg) said Chuck Amor of the B.C. Vegetable Marketing Commission.
“It’s just overnight (trucking) here from California …. They’re big conglomerates. They’re not family farms anymore. They can take a loss on one commodity and make enough on another and not even notice it,” said Amor.
In Manitoba, almost every crop has been “incredible”, but prices aren’t keeping pace with quality, said Larry McIntosh of Peak Vegetable Sales.
Cabbage is worth $4.50 for 50 lb. (23 kg) which he attributes to a glut of cabbages in Canada.
Manitoba competes with Alberta and Ontario, but doesn’t have to contend with as much produce from California because of higher freight rates. Exceptions are green onions and broccoli.
“With the cost of harvesting and bagging cabbage, by the time you get to a $4.50 price, there’s not much left,” said McIntosh.
