If a family of four spends $186.22 per week on groceries, what portion of that cash makes it back to the farm?
The answer, according to the Keystone Agricultural Producers, is $50.28, which works out to a 27 percent share of the family’s grocery bill.
Ian Wishart, KAP president, announced these numbers in Winnipeg Aug. 26, at a news conference directed at consumers concerned about rising food prices.
“We want the consumers to be aware when they see the price increases in the marketplace, yes a portion of that is going to the farmer. But get it in perspective. We’re getting a very small portion of the dollar,” said Wishart, at the KAP office.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Alma Kennedy, a retired professor of animal science at the University of Manitoba, generated the numbers for the KAP study. Her research and resulting data were based on a Canada Food Guide diet for two adults, a teenager and a child.
Kennedy, who attended the media event and spoke in front of a table covered with $186.22 of food, including fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat and grain, said she had to do extensive calculations for the study. The calculations included determining how much wheat it takes to produce a single pita.
Asked what surprised her about the results, Kennedy said it was that grain producers receive a tiny fraction of the supermarket dollar.
“The share that the grain farmer gets is very low,” she said.
She calculated that the farmers’ share of bagels and breads is a paltry four percent.
To spread the results of Kennedy’s study across the Prairies, producer associations outside of Manitoba held simultaneous events in their provinces.
In Regina, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan president Glenn Blakley said while farmers are enjoying some higher commodity prices, their share of the food dollar is “significantly smaller than most of the cost of production and the cost that the consumer pays.”
In addition to the average four percent share of grain product prices, farmers get an average of 44 percent of the milk and alternatives price, 29 percent from fruit and vegetables and 28 percent of meat and alternatives.
The study also showed that consumers who bought the same foods as purchased for the study would spend 41 percent of their money on vegetables and fruit, followed by meat at 25 percent, grain products 18 percent, and milk products 16 percent.
Blakley said farmers do get good support from Canadian consumers.
“If they keep in mind that they want to support Canadian production, the Canadian producers, the more processed the food is, the less portion of that money that the consumer is spending returns to the farmgate,” he said.
APAS donated the groceries purchased to illustrate the study’s findings to the Regina and District Food Bank.
Kim Lacoursiere, who heads special events for the food bank, said she was thrilled to receive fresh products.
“It certainly puts into perspective what it takes to feed a family,” she said, observing the display.
The week-long menu featured a healthy variety of meals and, as much as possible, Canadian products.
The farm prices used in the study were from April and May; grocery prices were based on Winnipeg purchases May 10.
