Average family expected to spend $994 more on food next year: report

Expect food to take up a bigger share of household budgets next year.

The latest Food Price Report produced by several Canadian universities is projecting an average family of four will pay an estimated $994.63 more for food in 2026 than this year because of issues like trade and climate change.

The increase, making for an estimated total bill of $17,571.79, comes from a projected four to six per cent inflation rate for food next year, according to the report produced by the agri-food analytics lab at Dalhousie University in partnership with several other universities.

The inflation rate is higher than the roughly four per cent seen this year, and would outpace an overall inflation rate that’s expected to decline to the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target.

The growth in food prices ne