Today marks the official release of the 14th edition of Canada’s Food Price Report. For the upcoming year, the report is forecasting food price increases of between 2.5 and 4.5% for Canada. While this rate of increase is lower than the 5.9% increase seen in 2023, given the cost of living crisis currently facing many Canadians, these increases will continue to put pressure on the most vulnerable Canadian families. For a family comprising an adult man (31-50 years old), an adult woman (31-50 years old), a teenage boy (14-18 years old), and a girl (9-13 years old), the expected increase in annual spending on food for 2024 is forecast to be up to $700.

For the 2024 report, we are happy to announce that Erode AI was able to play a supporting role to the University of Guelph forecasting team, with Erode AI founder Cody Kupferschmidt serving as a co-author of the report. This year marked the first time that climate covariates have been included as inputs for the forecasting models used to produce the food price forecasts. The team at the University of Guelph found that including key metrics for climatic impacts such as El Nino, drought, and snowpack resulted in the most accurate forecasts for several key food categories including fruit and vegetables.

To download the full version of the report please visit the link below:

Canada’s Food Price Report 2024