Maritimes face some of the highest milk prices in Canada

Milk is becoming an expensive grocery item for many Maritimers.

Canadian milk prices have gone up 5.5 per cent since 2024, according to a report by consumer research company Field Agent Canada, a fact that’s well known at the Glace Bay Food Bank in Nova Scotia.

“They would love to have the cold milk, but unfortunately that price is just outrageous,” said Linda MacRae, coordinator of the food bank. “People aren’t coming in with cases of product anymore. They do still donate, but it’s a bag here and there. It’s not cases at all.”

“It’s just a sign of the times,” said Mickey McNeil of Dominion, N.S., who for more than a decade has spearheaded a milk drive each fall in his home community.

In recent years, Mickey’s Milk Drive has been bolstered by big annual donations from a dairy farmer in Prince Edward Island, but even that has been scaled back a bit.

“The first couple of years, they gave us a free pallet of milk which was around $3,000 (worth),” McNeil said. “And then last year, because of the enormous amount of people who are looking for donations, they had to cut it to half a pallet of milk.”

“It’s going to be a significant impact on peoples’ grocery budgets, and whether people can afford to use milk at all,” said Jeff Doucette, general manager of Field Agent Canada.

Doucette said data for the report was collected by visiting 180 stores across the country. He noted the price hikes in the Maritimes are among the worst.

“Anywhere from seven to 31 per cent higher than the national average,” Doucette said.

Doucette said sometimes competition causes prices to come down a bit in the short term.

“But I’ve never seen milk prices actually drop from survey to survey, and, like I said, we’ve been doing this since 2014,” he said.

MacRae figures her supply of milk cans will likely run out by September or October, which could mean a plea to the public around that time.

“We’re seeing our working class now,” she said of the clientele visiting the food bank.

The report found Charlottetown has the most expensive 2% milk in the country, with a four-litre container costing on average just under $9.25.