Canadians have started to notice that grocers are starting to sell plants in miniature greenhouses. Gardens on rooftops, vertical farms close to stores — some are even selling gardening equipment to gardeners shopping for food. The farm is essentially merging with the retail food spaces we roam as consumers. Quite interesting. We are slowly witnessing
Comment: The rise of the ‘grow’cer
Retailers are bringing agriculture right to the store floor
Comment: The kids are not alright
Marketing unhealthy food to kids is taking advantage of their inability to make rational decisions
Most would agree that protecting children should be our country’s utmost priority. Protecting children from unhealthy food products and fast-food chains has been the subject of many conversations. Ads for sugary food products geared towards children have been contested for years and some countries have opted to ban them, one way or another. The United Kingdom,
Comment: Incentivizing the cautious
Getting customers back into restaurants will be no small challenge in the wake of a pandemic
As we inch towards a more normalized economy, the focus will now be on how we can make people feel more comfortable about going out and about again. Our economy needs it, our foodservice industry desperately needs it, but it is not going to be easy. In a recent survey, conducted in mid-May by the
Comment: Not all proteins are created equal
Beef is in the crosshairs, but it can be a very important part of agricultural sustainability
Protein wars have taken a back seat to the pandemic since March 2020. Most of the attention was obviously given to the virus, variants, vaccines and how to keep safe. Makes sense. But since we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, proteins appear to be back in the spotlight. Recently the
Comment: In praise of processed foods
A new study shows there’s no clear-cut consensus on what ‘processed’ means
Processed foods exist so we can save time, money, and energy. It has made our food systems more efficient over the years. It is all about convenience. In recent years though, the health attributes of processed foods have increasingly come under scrutiny for a variety of biased and unbiased reasons. Many reports by professional and
Comment: Food affordability. The perfect economic storm
The cost of housing is now the biggest contributor to food unaffordability in Canada
The two necessities in life are food and shelter. It looks like both are getting much more expensive these days. For a few years now, the cost of food has been the most important food affordability barrier. Not anymore. The cost of housing is now seen by Canadians as the most significant barrier. A recent
Comment: The great reset awaits for Canada’s restaurants
As the world ponders going back to normal the food-service sector has changed forever
It was certainly a year to be forgotten for the food service. StatsCan numbers told us this week that sales in the food-service industry dropped by a whopping 32 per cent, from Q4 2019 to Q4 2020. The food retail/service ratio, an important metric to assess how important food service is in our lives, also
Comment: The need to grow, in Canada
One of Canada’s best-run food companies just gave vertical farming a boost
We learned recently that McCain Foods has upped the ante in TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture and its wholly owned subsidiary GoodLeaf Farms, Canada’s largest commercial vertical farming operation. McCain has invested $65 million in GoodLeaf, making it the single largest shareholder in the venture. The idea is to create a national network of sustainable vertical farms
Comment: ‘Hard’ truths about butter
Palm oil in feed is thought to be the culprit and consumers will be disappointed
For months now, thousands of Canadians have taken to social media saying that they have noticed that butter sold in Canada is harder and does not get softer at room temperature. Not all butter is harder, but most of it is. Some people blame winter and the colder weather. The truth is more troubling than
Comment: The end of cities?
The work-from-home revolution could lead to a rural renaissance
It is no secret the pandemic has caused many Canadians to move from cities to the suburbs and even the countryside. According to Statistics Canada, the phenomenon led to a record loss of population in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver in 2020. Vacancy rates are skyrocketing in many urban centres across the country. The same phenomenon
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