Since the onset of the pandemic, food prices have remained stubbornly high, even as grocery chains have made record profits. This has fuelled public frustration with so-called “greedflation"— a term describing large corporations raising their prices during times of crisis.
In response, Canada’s Competition Bureau has made the case for more grocery retail competition, recommending policies from the creation of a grocery innovation strategy to welcoming more international players and enacting consistent pricing legislation.
Absent from this policy conversation, however, is the role of local alternative food networks, like farmers’ markets, in supporting more resilient food systems. We currently have an incomplete picture of food price dynamics in Canada because of a research gap.
