A food bank on Vancouver Island says it was a surprise beneficiary of the simmer trade war with the United States and the “Buy Canadian” movement that followed.
While buyers have removed their dollars from American products, the volume of us produces grocers and major wholesalers have made a donation to the Community Food Bank of Nanaimo Lains and Fishes.
“Anecdotal, our warehouse manager estimated him about 500 kg more per day to come” at The Peak, said the executive director of breads and fish, Peter Sinclair.
Sinclair said that the food bank had seen more and better quality products than its donors could generally not offer.
“We had an entire palette of cauliflower that passed-we will regularly get cauliflower, but it was the volume in this case and just the quality,” he said.
“We accepted with pleasure and we put it in its best and we have made sure that people have fed.”
Supermarkets like Victoria’s urban grocery store say that the consumer trend “buying Canadian” has been clear.
“We noticed shortly after the prices fell … Customers were really curious to know where their products came from,” said Managing Director Gary Innis.
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“They were very, very categorical to choose where they were going to buy their product. Consequently, we were able to rotate and decided to look at different sources to find Canadian products or something else. ”
Innis said that Monday, Urban Grocer no longer stored American products. Before that, he said he gave large volumes of American products approaching his best date date for local food banks.
The breads and fish support more than 10,000 customers thanks to its free food markets in Nanaimo and on the North Island, as well as 100 partner and First Nations groups.
Way volunteers say they have been delighted to offer more selection to customers.
“There are a lot of varieties available, some very fresh things,” said volunteer Jane Mackay.
“It is good to know that everyone can have whatever they want to change,” added the volunteer Donna Stewart.
Sinclair said that the initial overvoltage of American donations has since decreased.
Dan Huang-Taylor, executive director of Food Banks BC, said that the bump of American donations was good news for short-term food banks.
But in the longer term, he warned that American prices would probably erase an already overloaded system.
Indeed, as food prices increase, more people will need the help of food banks, while cash donations and the purchasing power of food banks will both shrink.
“Since 2019, we have noticed an increase in the number of visits to food banks in British Columbia by more than 80%, in the past year, the increase in the number of visits and the number of people who use services increased by more than 15%,” he said.
“This system is already nestled under the tension of requests.”
You can find out more about How to connect with or support your local food bank here.
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