Transportation is the dominant factor why food prices are higher in Northern Ontario compared to prices in the south.
The Northern Policy Institute, a think-tank, says the cost of food increases the further north one goes until it reaches very high prices in the far north and remote regions.
Charles Cirtwill, the President and CEO of NPI, says these higher costs create food insecurity issues and also results in some people not being able to buy the nutritious food they need because of financial limitations.
Although prices in the North Bay, Sudbury, Parry Sound region are lower than food prices further north, the mid-north cost of food is still higher than the equivalent food cost in the GTA or other southern centres.
Cirtwill says competition helps keep some food prices down in the north and he cites the presence of Costco in Sudbury as one factor to keeping prices from rising.
However, he notes there’s less competition in the more northern regions.
Cirtwill says there are ways to bring down transportation costs like the subsidy program the federal government has for the far north but he adds this does nothing for competition which is still lacking.
He says one way around this is to encourage more agriculture in the north and adds quite a few areas are showing success in this area.
Cirtwill says although one incurs expenses when growing food, the dollar amount is still less compared to the cost of getting the cost north from southern distributors.
“So if you have a supply approximate to where people are consuming the product, it makes it a lot easier,” Cirtwill said.
At the extreme, NPI has found that it costs a family living in the Rainy River and Kenora Districts $1,900 more a year to buy healthy food products compared to Toronto families.
Cirtwill says another way to bring down the cost of food in the north is to encourage cooperative business models.