From bad weather to global conflicts, and even the breakdown of supply chains, food prices are subject to unpredictable variations.
Here's a look at what's been shaking up the food market in recent years.
Published on: 17 Apr 2024
When it comes to valuable outside-the-classroom learning experiences, a competition attended by a team of students from McGill’s Macdonald Campus ticked all the boxes.
Four students in the Farm Management and Technology (FMT) program travelled to California in early April for the 2024 North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge.
Published on: 16 Apr 2024
CBC News interviewed agronomist and economist Pascal Thériault, McGill Farm Management and Technology Program Director, about recent protests by Quebec farmers asking for more government aid as they face rising costs of business and financial hardship.
"There's a need to actually start re-thinking programs to be able to better accommodate for the future over the long run," Thériault told journalists.
Published on: 11 Apr 2024
Student engagement was high at the Future of Food Conference in Ottawa, as youth turned out to hear panellists and keynote speeches by stakeholders from across the agriculture value chain.
Several student groups from Queen’s, McGill and the University of Ottawa heard about sustainability, innovation and politics in agriculture at the February event.
McGill Farm Management and Technology student Aidan Velthuis, who grew up on a dairy farm south of Ottawa, attended the conference.
Published on: 9 Apr 2024
McGill Farm Management and Technology Program Director Pascal Thériault spoke to Radio-Canada's Le Café Show about what regenerative agriculture is, how it can improve water retention in the soil—an increasingly important consideration as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of drought in the prairies, and its role in carbon capture.
Published on: 2 Apr 2024
Rising costs of cocoa due to drought and disease affecting crop yields is proof of how global warming is hitting our pocketbooks, agronomist and economist Pascal Thériault, McGill Farm Management and Technology Program Director, told CBC.
The food system "relies on stability, and what climate change does is it creates situations where nothing is stable," he said.
Published on: 2 Apr 2024
Large retailers are reducing their formats to cut production costs in a period of high food inflation.
Shrinkflation is not sparing the private labels that consumers love to save money on, Radio-Canada reports. Already in the spotlight for their record profits, Canada's major food retailers are in turn reducing the formats of their new products.
Published on: 21 Mar 2024
With its burps and farts, a dairy cow emits as much methane every year as a car driven 20,000 kilometers. Ottawa has just authorized the marketing of a feed additive that could transform the fight against global warming on the farm. 3-NOP could reduce methane emissions from dairy cows by an average of 30%, and from beef cattle by an average of 45%.
How does it work?
Methane is formed in cows' rumen—the front compartment of their stomach—during digestion.
Published on: 15 Mar 2024
The Ottawa Valley Farm Show, a cornerstone event for the agricultural industry, not only celebrates the achievements of local farmers but also showcases the latest agricultural products and technologies essential for sustaining industry growth.
Caitlin Allen, a recent graduate of McGill's Farm Management and Technology Program, aspires to one day own a dairy farm, but knows that passion and hard work are just part of the puzzle. Innovation is crucial.
Published on: 14 Mar 2024
Although bananas are not immune to price spikes, as seen recently due to poor harvests, the desire of retailers to keep them affordable and an efficient production chain largely explain why the popular fruit remains among the most accessible in the supermarket year round, agronomist and economist Pascal Thériault, McGill Farm Management and Technology Program Director, told La Presse.
Published on: 27 Feb 2024
A group of Montrealers, upon seeing a huge truck filled with unsold food from grocery stores each week in their neighbourhood, are raising the alarm about the extent of food waste.
Published on: 20 Feb 2024
On Canada's Agriculture Day on February 13, year 2 and 3 students in McGill's Farm Management and Technology (FMT) program attended the Future of Food conference in Ottawa, thanks to sponsors Farm Credit Canada and CropLife Canada. This one-day event features speakers and industry leaders in Canadian agriculture and food discussing innovation and how Canada can shape the food industry.
Published on: 14 Feb 2024
Times are tough in the ready-to-eat and boxed meal industries. In order to be able to continue in business, Cook it has taken steps to protect itself from creditors, and is planning to be bought out by British Columbia-based Fresh Prep Foods.
Published on: 5 Feb 2024
The spike in farmland prices has boosted the equity of farmers all across Canada. Are farmers leveraging this new-found equity to generate new business opportunities or farm wealth? To explore what farmland values mean for farms and farming across Canada, Country Guide sat down with Pascal Thériault, agricultural economist at Macdonald Campus, McGill University and vice-president of Quebec’s Ordre des agronomes.
Published on: 28 Nov 2023
In answer to a question posed by a reader, La Presse looked into the origins of the Metro group with expert commentary from agricultural economist Pascal Thériault, Director of McGill's Farm Management and Technology program and Senior Faculty Lecturer.
Among the five major players in the grocery field (Metro, IGA, Loblaw, Costco and Walmart), Metro is the only one to have its head office in Quebec. The big decisions are therefore made here, indicated Thériault.
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Published on: 13 Nov 2023
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