Expect Food Prices To Remain High

A food professor at Dalhousie University says we better get used to higher food prices.

 

"This year we were already expecting a high food inflation rate, back in December for 2020. That's not going to change," said Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. "The problem is that the general inflation rate is going to be very low, so 4% will probably feel more like a 10%. It's good news for people who want to stay home and cook because you'll save money but it's bad news for people who will likely go back to their old ways, go out to the restaurant because you're probably going to be spending way more than before."

 

Charlebois notes on the supply side, COVID-19 is making everything more expensive, adding new cleaning protocols, higher salaries, and building infrastructure for e-commerce will all cost more.

 

On the flip side, he adds each household in Canada is saving approximately $5 a day by cooking at home and avoiding restaurants.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.