As a numbers nerd, I can’t curb the excitement that I receive when reading through the annual Public Trust Research Report that is published each year during the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity’s Public Trust Summit. For us at Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan, this sets some of the direction that we will take in the upcoming year in an effort to build trust with Canadian consumers about their food.
As with previous year’s survey results, the top concern among Canadians is the rising cost of food. When asked about a wide range of overall concerns affecting the livelihood of Canadians, the cost of food ranks number one for the fifth year straight. Everyone can see that food inflation has impacted our pocketbooks when we go to the grocery store, growing at double-digit figures over the past year. Digging a bit deeper into the affordability of healthy food, the number of Canadians who are very concerned with the trend has risen from 28% in 2020, to 47% in 2023. This indicates that sticker shock at the supermarket is top of mind from coast to coast.
Photo credit Canadian Centre for Food Integrity
Interestingly, the upward trend of food prices is having an effect on the overall perception of the food industry. In 2023, only 34% of Canadians felt that the food system was moving in the right direction, compared to 47% in 2020. The slip in consumer confidence about the food system is two-fold. One, the agriculture industry showed Canadians its resilience during the start of COVID, ensuring the supermarkets did not run dry and we continued to have enough to eat, thus increasing confidence to a higher-than-normal level. On the flip of this in 2023, consumers are seeing their buying power decline on numerous fronts, and food just happens to hit everyone on a weekly basis.
The positive news from the study is that farmers continue to be the number one trusted profession when it comes to transparent and open conversations about food. This highlights the need for all farmers and ranchers to tell their food stories to consumers and to support organizations like Farm & Food Care who are increasing the engagements between farmers and consumers. We are moving the dial on public trust, but remember: this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon, one conversation at a time!