Will the torrential rains of the last few days cause your food prices to rise?

The violent storms and especially the torrential rains that have hit several regions of Quebec in recent days are causing concern for farmers.

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Several Quebec agricultural producers have seen their facilities suffer significant damage, but consumers should be spared, says Sylvain Charlebois, an agri-food industry specialist at Dalhousie University.

According to him, food prices at the grocery store should not be affected too much by the recent bad weather.

"We're not doing too badly this year. We're still expecting a generous harvest for several commodities. We're starting to get corn from Quebec. We're going to have a lot of it," he said in an interview with LCN.

"There are many producers who will be able to offer us very good products this year," added the expert.

LCN screenshot

The whims of Mother Nature nevertheless result in significant costs for farmers, says Mr. Charlebois.

"We are increasingly focusing on irrigation of facilities. We need to move towards that [...] It adds to the production cost for the producer," he maintains.

For the past twenty years, natural disasters and weather events have pushed governments and agricultural producers to invest in sophisticated systems to avoid being left behind when nature runs riot, says the agri-food industry specialist.

To see the full interview, watch the video above.