Fruits and veg are the tough one. We don’t grow a whole lot of fresh green veggies in the winter. We don’t grow any citrus fruits whatsoever. We don’t grow berries in the winter.
Basically if you only eat local produce you’re going to be living entirely off preserves for half the year, the way my grandparents did a hundred years ago.
Unless of course you have a lot of space in your house to set up grow lights and grow your own greens indoors. I’m looking at that but it’s not easy to grow head lettuces like romaine that way.
The question is: do we grow enough greenhouse lettuce in Canada to meet demand? That seems to be nowhere near the case, as all the stuff I see in stores in the winter is from the US.
Let’s say it was a 10000% tariff on US lettuce so that stores wouldn’t bother stocking it at all. What would the price of Canadian greenhouse lettuce be? $10? $20? $50?
Most produce waste is at the distribution and commercial level. Stores won’t buy ugly produce because consumers are picky about it.
Lettuce is a big problem though because it spoils really fast. It’s not like a green pepper that looks like an ugly goblin but is otherwise fresh and tasty. Bad lettuce is heavily wilted and covered in brown rust. Nobody will buy that, especially not at regular price, next to pristine lettuce.
20 million kg of lettuce. Is that per day? Canada has a population of 40 million. If that number is per year then it’s basically 500 grams per person per year. Most people who eat lettuce regularly eat more than that per week.
Fortunately, there have been some advancements to reduce food waste through apps that partner with grocery stores to list nearly expired items at a deep discount.
Sure and that’s great for packaged goods and more durable produce like peppers, potatoes, and gourds.
Fresh, delicate greens are the trickiest. They expire very quickly. But they also are very easy to damage while growing, harvesting, packaging, shipment to distribution, shipment to stores, unpacking, display, consumer-caused damage, and even transport home from the store.
I think to meet demand entirely domestically we’d probably have to grow 50-100 times as much lettuce in greenhouses as we’re doing right now.
I think to meet demand entirely domestically we’d probably have to grow 50-100 times as much lettuce in greenhouses as we’re doing right now.
Keep in mind that the tens of millions of KG in greenhouse lettuce is in addition to the tens of thousands of tonnes in fresh lettuce we also grow.
Are you concerned that we’ll have a lettuce shortage? I don’t see that happening, but this will give us an opportunity to expand our capacity, grow more locally (i.e. in backyards, community gardens, etc.), encourage creative ways to grow food, etc.
I want to try growing some lettuce myself. But note that if everyone grew lettuce in their backyard it would not do anything to reduce winter demand for lettuce (which doesn’t keep all winter). The backyard lettuce revolution would destroy commercial lettuce producers in Canada who only grow outdoors in the summer, while leaving winter lettuce shortages intact.
Spanish citrus is fine but every orange I’ve ever bought from South Africa has been inedible. Dry, mealy, and bitter. Awful garbage that’s clearly been picked a month too early.
We don’t grow a whole lot of fresh green veggies in the winter.
Right now I have lettuce, fresh herbs and fresh tomatoes that were grown in greenhouses in Alberta.
We don’t grow any citrus fruits whatsoever
A lot of other countries that aren’t attacking us do, though.
.
Nobody said this would be easy, but that entire list is stuff that we can get elsewhere, can make ourselves, or that we can survive without until we can find a friendlier source.
Fruits and veg are the tough one. We don’t grow a whole lot of fresh green veggies in the winter. We don’t grow any citrus fruits whatsoever. We don’t grow berries in the winter.
Basically if you only eat local produce you’re going to be living entirely off preserves for half the year, the way my grandparents did a hundred years ago.
Unless of course you have a lot of space in your house to set up grow lights and grow your own greens indoors. I’m looking at that but it’s not easy to grow head lettuces like romaine that way.
You’d be surprised, but we grow a lot throughout the winter.
Take Ontario, for example.
You get even more options if you buy frozen or produce outside of North America or even just include Mexico (bananas, berries, mangoes, etc.)
Sure, it’s convenient that we had a partnership with our neighbours, but we have to look past them now, and probably for at least the next four years.
The question is: do we grow enough greenhouse lettuce in Canada to meet demand? That seems to be nowhere near the case, as all the stuff I see in stores in the winter is from the US.
Let’s say it was a 10000% tariff on US lettuce so that stores wouldn’t bother stocking it at all. What would the price of Canadian greenhouse lettuce be? $10? $20? $50?
We send over $18 million of lettuce to the States per year. We can stop doing that and keep it for ourselves, if that ever becomes an issue.
Currently, we grow over 20 million KG of lettuce in greenhouses, so I don’t think we have to worry about seasons, either.
On the flip side, if we didn’t waste as much produce as we do, we’d always be in a surplus as far as I see.
Most produce waste is at the distribution and commercial level. Stores won’t buy ugly produce because consumers are picky about it.
Lettuce is a big problem though because it spoils really fast. It’s not like a green pepper that looks like an ugly goblin but is otherwise fresh and tasty. Bad lettuce is heavily wilted and covered in brown rust. Nobody will buy that, especially not at regular price, next to pristine lettuce.
20 million kg of lettuce. Is that per day? Canada has a population of 40 million. If that number is per year then it’s basically 500 grams per person per year. Most people who eat lettuce regularly eat more than that per week.
Fortunately, there have been some advancements to reduce food waste through apps that partner with grocery stores to list nearly expired items at a deep discount.
Sure and that’s great for packaged goods and more durable produce like peppers, potatoes, and gourds.
Fresh, delicate greens are the trickiest. They expire very quickly. But they also are very easy to damage while growing, harvesting, packaging, shipment to distribution, shipment to stores, unpacking, display, consumer-caused damage, and even transport home from the store.
I think to meet demand entirely domestically we’d probably have to grow 50-100 times as much lettuce in greenhouses as we’re doing right now.
Keep in mind that the tens of millions of KG in greenhouse lettuce is in addition to the tens of thousands of tonnes in fresh lettuce we also grow.
Are you concerned that we’ll have a lettuce shortage? I don’t see that happening, but this will give us an opportunity to expand our capacity, grow more locally (i.e. in backyards, community gardens, etc.), encourage creative ways to grow food, etc.
I want to try growing some lettuce myself. But note that if everyone grew lettuce in their backyard it would not do anything to reduce winter demand for lettuce (which doesn’t keep all winter). The backyard lettuce revolution would destroy commercial lettuce producers in Canada who only grow outdoors in the summer, while leaving winter lettuce shortages intact.
I think you’ll also just start seeing more citrus from Spain and South Africa and other places.
Spanish citrus is fine but every orange I’ve ever bought from South Africa has been inedible. Dry, mealy, and bitter. Awful garbage that’s clearly been picked a month too early.
Well I guess we’ll work it out somehow. I don’t know all the answers but we’ll figure it out. This also happened so perhaps it’ll help.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ecuador-president-says-new-trade-deal-with-canada-finalized-2025-02-02/
Right now I have lettuce, fresh herbs and fresh tomatoes that were grown in greenhouses in Alberta.
A lot of other countries that aren’t attacking us do, though.
.
Nobody said this would be easy, but that entire list is stuff that we can get elsewhere, can make ourselves, or that we can survive without until we can find a friendlier source.
I’ll look for Alberta lettuce in stores next time. I have literally never seen it. And I check the labels regularly to see where produce comes from.
If it helps, I’m in Ontario. So maybe Alberta lettuce isn’t shipped here.