Buy Canadian, support local producers!
During the pandemic, the demand for locally produced goods increased significantly in the country.
As foreign supplies resume to Canada after the pandemic has eased, more local farmers and other workers in the agriculture industry say there has been an increased demand for home-grown food over the past year.
According to Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie University, its goods are attracting both Canadian consumers and manufacturers. As Charlebois says, it now costs almost 3 times as much to move any goods around the world as it did last year. That's why it's cheaper and more profitable to buy any locally produced products.
Recent surveys of food prices in Canada show that the pandemic has significantly increased the competitiveness of Canadian goods. Respondents who took part in the study said they also purchased from local producers and farmers to support their own small businesses.
At the beginning of the pandemic restaurants and cafes were severely affected, but after takeaways were allowed to be sold, the situation in this sector began to improve.
Florist Vander Waal noticed that the demand for flowers and plants increased dramatically during the pandemic because people, who had more free time, started paying much more attention to their households.
Todd Lewis, president of the Saskatchewan Agricultural Producers Association, also said there's still a demand for imported goods, but many Canadians are already making a concerted effort to buy from local households:
"Canadian consumers have done a good job buying local products and supporting Canadian agriculture," Lewis said. — And that relationship benefits everyone. It's just essential that Canadian consumers continue to support Canadian producers."
When the pandemic struck, people started cooking more at home, so the demand for food changed, but Canadian farmers were able to adapt. According to Michael Young, president of the industry association Canada Beef, the trend towards buying local produce was increasing even before the pandemic, and has increased even more in the past year and a half.
