Farmers’ share of the consumer food dollar in Canada: What input‐output data from 1997–2021 show us

Abstract This article uses Canadian input–output data from 1997–2021 to explore the consumer food dollar in terms of its distribution between farmers (i.e., farm share) and post‐farm gate industries. We have adopted the method developed by Canning (2011), which is based on a type one Input‐Output multiplier model. The overall farm share (19.4% in 1997–18.6% in 2021); the food at home farm share (23.7% in 1997–22.8% in 2021) and the food away from home farm share (10.1% in 1997–9.6% in 2021) did not fluctuate widely, suggesting a fairly fixed distribution between farmers and post‐farm gate industries. The overall farm share changed the most between 2019 and 2020 due to changing consumer behavior during the pandemic (COVID‐19). The time series econometric analysis on farm shares and price indices for the agri‐food value chain shows mild to significant associations among them. Given that, on average, 83% of every dollar Canadians spend on food goes to post‐farm gate sectors, it may be insightful to study post‐farm gate industries in greater detail in order to better understand the drivers behind recent food price inflation.