A report from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture notes last year, Canadians spent 10.8 per cent of their disposable income on food and beverages, a slight increase from 10.7 per cent in 2024.
The CFA says each year, they track how much Canadians spend to help consumers understand how food affordability is shifting year-over-year. They release the report every Food Freedom Day, which this year was this past Sunday (Feb. 8). CFA claims that date was "by which the average Canadian household will have earned enough income to cover its entire annual grocery costs."
Executive Director Scott Ross says the overall percentages don't fluctuate often, but where it gets interesting is breaking down the numbers by category, from the low-income household to the high-income household.
A bar graph shows the lowest-income quintile spends 28.20 per cent of their disposable income on food and beverages, followed by the second income quintile at 15 per cent, the third 11.22 per cent, the fourth 8.79 per cent, and the fifth, or highest income, spends only 5.18 per cent.
Ross says those numbers don't surprise him but what did was the fact "Canada is outpacing many other countries currently in terms of food inflation, that we're not seeing the numbers significantly tick up in terms of it taking that much longer through the year, let's say, to cover those bills."
"But saying that, I mean, Canada is relatively speaking still very much a global leader in affordable food production and making sure that's a reality for Canadians, but at the same time, we aren't insulated from all the geopolitical uncertainty and supply chain disruptions that everyone's experiencing these days." he added.
The CFA stress the average disposable income numbers don't fully reflect the pressure that rising food costs place on households. They add global disruptions, including tariff threats from the U.S. and other countries, and inflationary pressures further strain food affordability and food security.
Ross says those factors also affect farmers through lower commodity prices and higher input costs. The CFA notes "farmers receive only a small fraction of what shoppers pay at retail. Higher store prices do not necessarily translate into higher returns at the farm gate."
"But as I said before, by and large, they're price takers in these areas. So it's not something that really gets transmitted directly to the consumer." Ross said.
The report comes months in advance of the CUSMA review, and the CFA says maintaining open and predictable trade in North America is essential to keeping food prices manageable and avoid exacerbating food affordability concerns.
