The Financial Post spoke to Prof. Michael von Massow, a food economist with U of G’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, for his thoughts on why there are so few meat processing plants in Canada.

As the article notes, COVID-19 outbreaks at two of the three largest plants have caused backlogs in the beef industry. Von Massow explained that the reason Canada uses large processing plants is because they are most efficient.

“The trade-off becomes, if we had more of a safety net with some diversification in processing, our costs go up. Are we willing to pay more for beef in order for that assurance?” he said.

Von Massow, who studies the structure and performance of food supply chains, also was a guest on The Big Story podcast to explain how Canada’s food supply chains work and why it’s been a challenge for them to adjust to our shifting food-buying patterns.