Canadians continue to shift their preference in meat consumption from red to white, according to Statistics Canada.
In a report Feb. 4 on family food expenditures, the federal agency said that during the past five years, the average family spending on food has remained almost stable.
And Canadians are eating more meals at home and fewer in restaurants. But while spending patterns on most foods have not changed much over the years, there has been a marked shift in meat preference to poultry. It said the average household spent $112.09 per week on food in 1996, up less than $2 over five years.
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British Columbians spent the most, reflecting a tendency to eat in restaurants.
Farming costs more
The cost of farming rose sharply in some sectors during the past year, according to Statistics Canada.
The federal agency reported last week that the overall farm input price index was 2.2 percent higher in the last quarter of 1997 than year-earlier levels.
However, within different sectors, the input price changes were mixed. The highest increase came in the cattle sector, where prices for feeder animals were 29.7 percent higher in Western Canada.
In the crops sector, a 10.7 percent drop in fertilizer prices helped create a small average decrease in production costs.
And across the board, farmers paid 5.8 percent less in debt servicing because of lower interest rates.
The hardest hit sector was western livestock as farmers paid more for machinery, pesticides and farm wages, as well as feeder cattle.
