Agriculture economist Dr. Alfons Weersink spoke to the National Post for an article about rising fertilizer prices and other factors that Canadian farmers are facing. 

Weersink said rising food prices aren’t necessarily because of those higher farming costs, noting that farm costs make up only about 20 per cent of a grocery item’s cost. “Energy is really the major, major cost item. So something that happens at the farm level doesn’t necessarily translate into higher food prices directly because there’s so much else going on,” he said.  

A professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Weersink researches the feasibility of new agricultural technology and policy.