As Trump's tariffs loom, Canada's shaky food security is top of mind

Montreal-based Lufa farms supplies about 30,000 grocery boxes filled with local produce grown in their urban rooftop greenhouses. Photo by Lufa Farms.
Two days after U.S. President Donald Trump started a trade war with Canada — now paused for 30 days, the atmosphere at one of Vancouver's largest hubs for fresh lettuce, tomatoes and other produce is one of nervous anticipation for the coming weeks.
"We haven't seen a big impact yet, but our imports will definitely be impacted in the future," said Danny Cherry, a data specialist at The Produce Terminal, one of B.C.'s largest produce brokers, which supply independent grocers throughout the province. "People are ordering more locally."
About 50 per cent of Canada's fruit, nuts and vegetables are imported from the U.S. Nearly 90 per cent of leafy greens come from California. We also rely heavily on California and Arizona for spinach, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, according to research by York University.
Recent days have seen social media alight with Canadians trying to avoid U.S. produce in a show of political unity. But experts say that Trump's tariffs and Canadian countermeasures could have impacts that extend far beyond the cost and availability of California lettuces and Florida oranges, and drive changes in how the country produces, processes and sells its food.
"What we're seeing is we can't depend on one trading partner so much, maybe we need to be building out domestic supply," said Lenore Newman, a professor at the University of the Fraser Valley who specializes in food systems. "It's a different world now, where we're on our own a little more than we used to be."
The truckloads of greens and other foods that stock Canadian supermarket shelves are only the most visible part of Canada's inter-connection to the U.S. when it comes to food. Canada has relatively little food processing capacity. That gap is routinely filled by farmers or food companies shipping raw ingredients across the border for processing.
For instance, many Canadian-grown berries are processed south of the border before being shipped back into the country, she said. With both countries implementing tariffs, that type of routine cross-border trade would be prohibitively expensive or impossible, she said.
Beef is similar, with American-born cattle raised in Canada before being processed in the U.S. The Canadian Cattle Association warned yesterday that tariffs would "greatly" increase processing costs, ultimately sending beef prices soaring on either side of the border.
Reducing Canada's reliance on the U.S. for food or food processing will require bolstering Canada's food infrastructure and processing capacity, in addition to broadening what Canadians can grow, Newman said.
When it comes to animal products, recent years have seen B.C. and other provinces create more flexible rules for meat processing on small- and mid-sized farms to help farmers sell their products more locally. Canadians also rely more heavily on local production during the warmer months, when the country's vegetable and fruit farms are in bloom — but not in winter.
"This is a good reason to really ramp up our indoor agriculture, like greenhouse and vertical [farming]," said Newman. Moreover, it's an industry that has matured enough in recent years to start proving its viability.
One model has taken root on the rooftops of Montreal-area strip malls. Since 2009, Lufa farms has grown hydroponic and organic greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other produce in rooftop greenhouses built on top of commercial buildings throughout the city.
The company distributes about 30,000 grocery boxes weekly, stocked with their products and items sourced from hundreds of Quebec farms and food producers. Buying exclusively local goods, while relying on Quebec hydropower and workers, allows the company to be relatively insulated from the tariffs, at least in the short term, said Lionel Trombert, vice president of finance.
"We don't expect our costs will be significantly impacted by the tariffs or the exchange rate," he said in French. "That's good news for us and our clients."
But expanding operations that are able to supply a Canadian-sourced grocery basket that includes fresh produce year-round comes at a high cost. Trombert said the company's largest barrier to expansion is the initial building costs — greenhouses and hydroponic systems are expensive, and finding buildings that are structurally strong enough to support greenhouses and other necessary infrastructure.
Quebec's grants for local food production are uniquely robust and made it possible for the company to take root. As the company looks to expand to other Canadian urban centres, the lack of similar grants in other provinces means replicating their model "isn't always obvious," said Trombert.
Back in B.C., buying Canadian food was top of mind for some as they sought out groceries. Laura Laing, an Alberta-based rancher visiting her daughter in the city, was acutely aware of how the tariffs could impact her industry and Canadian food production more broadly.
If Trump's trade war gets fully underway, she expects more Canadians will also become more aware.
"There's a lot of pride in Canadian products," she said. " Maybe there's an education that will come out of this for people that maybe aren't that conscious at the store level when they're purchasing products that are Canadian."
Comments
With so many recalls of US fresh produce these days, I have avoided buying any fresh fruit and vegetables from the USA. I don't find it too hard to source local Canadian greenhouse produce and produce from outher countries. With everything else, if I can buy Canadian, I will, if not, source it only from the USA as a last resort.
Sometimes you have to pay a bit more for local, but at least I know what I am getting, than what comes out of the USA these days with so many recalled produce. Imagine a lettuce farm in California, with a pig farm right next to it and then wonder why the produce is contaminated with e. coli.
This! Absolutely. and it s not going to get better now.
One thing I've really noticed about local farm market vegetables is the increased lifespan in my fridge. I find this more than offsets the cost difference, including organic items...
Cabbage from California? Not avocadoes? Be still my heart.
Pretty sure we can grow and keep cabbages just fine here in Canada. And lettuces grow on my windowsill!
how hard will it be to invest in a few strategic greenhouses domestically???
And lets try what Ecuador now has to offer thanks to new agreement just signed. . And get other trading agreements going .
Perhaps we should post source country data for various vegetables & fruits as we all find it. If we're lucky enough to have reputable farm markets within easy distance as well, I'm sure we could eliminate a ton of U.S. produce. Having said that, I'm not totally adverse to buying oranges from California, just not ones from Florida.