How delays at the border could impact fresh food production

Windsor border blockade could have local effects From CTV Kitchener's Krista Sharpe: Supply chain experts are weighing in on how delays at the Windsor border could impact consumers.

The Ambassador Bridge in Windsor is the gateway for one quarter of all trade between Canada and the US, and to according University of Guelph professor Simon Somogyi the current blockage there is "a big problem.”

Somogyi, who is also the Arrell Chair in the Business of Food, said about $400 million-worth of products cross at that land border daily and “about $8 billion to $12 billion-worth of food goes back and forth over that bridge.”

Some truck drivers are deciding to make lengthy detours in order to enter Canada, instead of waiting in Windsor.

“That increases fuel costs and the cost of truckers, so some of those costs could be passed on in higher food prices,” Somogyi said.

“I don’t think it’s going to lead to any major outages at this point in time, but if food has to go through Sarnia to get to our grocery stores that means it takes longer.”

Somogyi said the impact on fresh food items is the most concerning.

“Fragile food, particularly the fruits and vegetables we need this time of year can get wasted,” he said.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG) said its member grocery stores aren’t reporting any major shortages due to the events in Windsor at this time.

Somogyi and the CFIG agree food supply warehouses will feel the impact first. According to the CFIG, roughly 40 to 50 per cent of products that come into the Ontario Food Terminal in Etobicoke do so via the Ambassador Bridge. Once the items arrive at the terminal, they are then distributed to stores.

Food supply companies aren’t the only ones who may feel an economic impact.

MOST TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE SMALL BUSINESSES

Most trucking companies in Canada are small businesses, according to Wildrid Laurier University business professor and freight transportation and logistics expert, Michael Haughton.

“Upwards of 90 per cent of them own fewer than six trucks so they are really small operations. So working on their own, a lot of these costs, they would have to incur (themselves),” Haughton said, referencing to the extra fuel and hours it takes to get around the current Windsor land crossing delay.

He added some small companies act as sub-contractors for larger companies, so there is a chance that the price will be covered, possibly by a chain retailer. However, there’s no saying if chain retailers will absorb or pass on that same cost.

Before the convoy began, the COVID-19 virus along with other pandemic factors had already taken some drivers off the road.

“It's not just supply of materials, it's also supply of personnel,” Haughton said.

A LOCAL SOLUTION

As it's too cold to grow fresh fruits and vegetables locally right now, Somogyi said these events are an example of why Canada, and Ontario specifically, should start producing more of its own items, including more fresh greenhouse produce.

“More food production in Canada means we have more control on our food supply chain and therefore less reliance on imports from the US or Mexico,” Somogyi said.

Haughton said if retailers start to see an impact on the shelves, it could take a while for the supply chain to catch up.

“We can’t expect that the minute the disruption is over, it will be fixed,” he said.