For those who handle the grocery shopping in the household, you might be surprised to hear that recent run ups in grocery store prices are somewhat of an anomaly. As Kevin Grier, with KG Market Analysis and Consulting explains, price inflation of grocery items has actually been low to negative in the past few years,… Read More
On Thursday’s RealAg Radio show, host Shaun Haney has the following guests: Kevin Bender, chair of the Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI); Jim Wiesemeyer, a policy analyst with Pro Farmer; Kevin Grier, agriculture and food market analyst; and, Jessika Guse with the top agriculture news stories of the day. Have feedback? Story idea? Send an… Read More
Perhaps lost in the hustle and bustle of the USMCA trade dealings is the fact that Canada did retaliate against the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs with tariffs of our own on over 40 grocery and food related items. The full brunt of those tariffs is likely just beginning to be felt at the consumer… Read More
It’s Friday on RealAg Radio and there is much to discuss today on the show to finish the week. The lineup includes: Shaun Haney is the top ag news of the day Lone Ranger Sarah Foster, of 2020 Seed Labs, covers the opportunity to make more timely fungicide application with passive spore collection of the… Read More
New day, new poll. Ipsos released a new poll regarding the upcoming federal election, and although the figures might not completely shock you, there’s an interesting stat in regards to how the prime minister and the president line up in regards to approval rating. For today’s RealAg Radio show, host Shaun Haney has the following… Read More
The latest Grocery Trade Report tells the story of more sales to the U.S., Canadians choosing to cook at home, and a (perhaps surprisingly) small shift to online food sales. Kevin Grier, with KG Market Analysis and Consulting, says that 2017 was a pretty strong year for the grocery industry in Canada. Of note, packaged… Read More
One of the five publications market analyst and consultant Kevin Grier Market offers is an in-depth look at the Canadian grocery trade. “StatsCan publishes financial data every quarter,” explains Grier in the following interview, “and I get them to peel away the food retail data…and once again the gross retail margins are looking very good… Read More
For quite some time the pork industry was less than an ideal place to be. More barns closed than opened as demand waned and environmental regulations increased. It is a different time on the pork industry in 2017. Similar to beef, demand has been very strong, which has prices pushed higher and producers making money…. Read More
On Friday the USDA released its Cattle on Feed report which provided some clarity on the placement number heading into the fall run. Anne Wasko had the following commentary – “Aug 1 U.S. Cattle on Feed Report was called neutral from guesstimates we talked about in Friday’s Beef Market Update. I was actually expecting the… Read More
Food prices in Canadian stores have declined for nine consecutive months, dating back to last September, as measured by Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index. While the rate of depreciation has slowed since January, Kevin Grier, market analyst and author of the Grocery Trade Review, explains there are two main factors putting downward pressure on the… Read More
If you asked consumers about whether grocery bills are going up or down, they would likely say up. According to market analyst Kevin Grier and Statistics Canada, the data suggests otherwise. Food deflation continued again in March, with declines across the store in staples, meat, and consumer packaged goods. According to Statistics Canada, the Consumer Price… Read More
Trade between the NAFTA nations has become mainstream news on a daily basis. Trade relations between Canada and the United States seems to be getting cooler as the battle over lumber, energy, and dairy heats up. The Canadian and American agriculture economies are very linked and, as highlighted by Kevin Grier in his March edition of… Read More
Everybody’s waiting to see what President Trump plans to do with NAFTA, but it’s unlikely it will be detrimental to the movement of cattle and pigs across the Canada-U.S. border, says Guelph-based livestock and meat market analyst Kevin Grier. While Trump’s “Buy American” policy and willingness to flat-out talk about being protectionist are concerning, Grier says he… Read More
Live cattle cash prices have been in the 2016-version of free fall, and many producers have been challenged trying to understand why prices at the grocery stores have not followed suit. As demand concerns rise, speculation is that beef prices in Canada must eventually fall to increase sales at the meat counter. In this week’s… Read More
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack declared on Friday afternoon that “effective immediately” the U.S. Department of Agriculture would not be enforcing country of origin labeling rules for beef and pork. It’s been over seven years since American packers were forced to segregate Canadian animals and meat. How quickly can they go back to operating how they… Read More