I enjoy Sylvain Charlebois’ blog on Canadian Grocer. He is a professor in food distribution policy and senior director/AGRI-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
This one is from November 2022, the previous age.
It’s out of date. It’s kind of. He says Canada’s lettuce shortage is due to “a drought and a nasty virus.” That was true at the time, but not now.
The rest of his column remains relevant, however. Although Charlebois’ choice of words is ironic in current circumstances, he says that in regard to lettuce, “California is drying up, which is a problem for Canada–and it will likely get worse.”
Charlebois continues, “Short-term shortages, recalls and disruptions coming from California have been numerous. While not immediately obvious for many, it is certainly apparent for others. The current lettuce shortage is more apparent and has received extensive media coverage. This is a clear example of the impact climate change has on our dinner plates. Slowly, we are realizing that our current method of getting leafy greens during winter is not sustainable.
“In California, farmers have had to get water from farther away to…
