Why lettuce prices are rising in Canada

Canadians could discover a scarcity of leafy greens at grocery shops and eating places, as lettuce costs spike and shortages loom.

Rich Donsky, co-founder of produce distribution firm Mr. Produce, believes lettuce costs are headed greater.

“The availability is short,” he informed CTV’s Your Morning on Thursday. “We’re a food service distribution mainly to a lot of restaurants, hotels, school boards, and when we’re expecting the product to arrive and it doesn’t…These pocket shortages are a little bit frustrating.”

In the newest Consumer Price Index report from Statistics Canada for the month of March, lettuce noticed a 6.8 per cent discount in value from February 2023. Year-over-year, inflation for the leafy inexperienced is at 8 per cent.

Donsky expects lettuce costs to additional improve this month because of extreme climate patterns within the United States.

“They had some cool and wet weather earlier in the year in the northern growing areas, and that suspended the ability to plant and get into the fields,” he mentioned. “So the plan was for the southern growing areas to go a little bit longer, and that was a problem as of last week, because they got a lot of hot weather. So they weren’t able to use a lot of product that was down there.”

He says the drastic adjustments in local weather restrict the flexibility for lettuce manufacturing and has “compounded” the issue. Donsky says spring is a “transition time” for southern States so when the climate is just not very best it could have an effect on lettuce yields.

“It’s all dependent on the weather,” he mentioned. “(If) the weather co-operates, we’re going to see a little bit better pricing if it doesn’t, there will be more problems.”

Donsky is hopeful lettuce costs will drop off in June when Canadian farmers can begin promoting their merchandise.

To hear what farmers are doing to stop crop loss, click on the video on the prime of this text.