Canadians will have to pay an extra $966 for food in 2022, with COVID-19-fuelled supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, adverse weather, transportation challenges, and high inflation all driving up grocery costs, a new report says. Canada’s Food Price Report (pdf), published Dec. 9, predicts that an average Canadian family of four will pay a total annual grocery bill of $14,767 in 2022—an increase of up to $966 for the same family in 2021. That amounts to a seven percent increase compared to last year—the biggest jump ever predicted by the annual food price report. “The era of cheap food has ended,” said Sylvain Charlebois, Dalhousie University professor of food distribution and policy and lead author of the report. “Prices have been increasing since 2010 and the pandemic accelerated that trend.” High Inflation and Food Insecurity The Food Price Report noted that food inflation has outpaced general inflation over the past …