Report | From Plow to Pantry: Monopoly in the Canadian Food System

Canadians bearing the increased cost of living are familiar with the lack of competition in retail grocery, where decades of consolidation have left only a handful of national firms. But the issue of monopoly extends beyond the grocery aisle and throughout the Canadian food system.

This report provides a landscape view of the competition problems across Canada’s food system, from the seeds and fertilizers used by farmers all the way to the final products Canadians bring home to their kitchen table. At each link in the chain, corporate power has a hand in shaping the markets that producers rely on for their livelihood and consumers rely on to keep their families fed. As in other markets, decades of belief in the benign nature of corporate concentration has left participants with fewer options and more powerful gatekeepers to confront.

But a renewed focus on competition spurred by the cost of living crisis provides hope for a fairer and more democratic food system going forward. With new competition law tools and a broad anti-monopoly focus, Canadians can begin to turn the tide on monopoly in the food system.

You can read the full report here