If you’ve shopped at a BBQ grocery store recently, you’ve probably gotten a shock when it comes to the price of beef.
Prices for fresh or frozen beef have risen nearly 13 per cent since last May, according to Statistics Canada. In contrast, prices for fresh or frozen pork and fresh or frozen chicken increased by 3% and 1.8%, respectively.
The continued growth is falling short of expectations, according to beef and cattle market analyst Kevin Grier.
“People keep saying, ‘What’s the tipping point? When will it come? And I don’t know, because I expected the tipping point to come within three years,” Grier said.
“You could always argue that we’ve reached our limit, but it seems like we keep going.”
So why do beef prices continue to rise and when can Canadians expect relief? CBC’s The House spoke with experts in the Canadian meat industry about the problem and the measures the federal government is proposing to address the issue.
LISTEN | Why is beef so expensive?:
House29:36Why is beef still so expensive?
With political barbecue season in full swing, The House’s Jennifer Chevalier kicks off The House’s summer series on food security with a documentary addressing the high cost of beef. A rancher explains why despite good livestock prices it’s hard to be confident about the future, a chef wonders why interprovincial trade barriers make it so difficult to buy local meat, and a meat packer shows us his slaughterhouse and explains why he’s using a government program to help him ship meat to northern Canada.
Low supply, constant demand
Calvin Waags, president and CEO of True North Foods, a beef processor in Manitoba, said House that North American cattle stocks are at “historic lows.”
Tyler Fulton, a Manitoba rancher and president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said ranchers are now in a “recovery phase” where they are trying to grow their herds, meaning there should be less beef on the dinner table for now.
“The earliest the product will be available to consumers will be three years,” Fulton said. “So it’s hard to get your head around the economics.”
WATCH | Why barbecues may cost more this summer:
Why barbecue meat may cost more this summer
Beef prices have reached record levels as grilling season begins. Data from Statistics Canada shows prices have risen 62.6 per cent since 2021 due to years of drought, declining cattle numbers and rising production costs.
Data from Statistics Canada shows Canada’s overall cattle herd size actually increased in January of this year, marking the first year-over-year increase since 2018. In total, “Canadian cattle producers had 11.1 million cattle and calves on their farms as of January 1, 2026.”
At the same time, according to a recent market report from Canada Beef, which tracks consumer habits, demand for beef last year was “estimated to be the highest since the early 1980s,” fueled by a surge in demand for protein.
Waags said other countries around the world view Canadian beef as an extremely high-quality, desirable product.
“I think there are other jurisdictions in the world that are willing to pay and keep that price the same,” Waags said.
WATCH | Experts say relief from soaring beef prices is years away:
Experts warn relief from soaring beef prices is years away
Consumer experts warn relief from soaring Canadian beef prices is still several years away as rising fuel and food prices slow ranchers’ ability to increase supply despite adding more cows to their herds.
Conditions in Canada are now “excellent” for raising cattle, Fulton said.
“There’s really no concern about drought except for a small area in British Columbia,” Fulton said. “In general, we are actually raising a herd of mother cows (and) which is the first point of the entire value chain.”
But Brenda Rosadiuk, who raises calves on her ranch in Evansburg, Alta., highlighted some factors that are preventing her from increasing the size of her personal herd.
“We constantly call the people from whom we get fuel, we just check the prices,” Rosadyuk said. “And there was so much fertilizer this year.”
Beef processing poses an additional challenge
In addition to price concerns, the federal government’s recently released National Food Security Strategy addresses market concentration, which leaves the supply chain vulnerable to shocks.
Canadian slaughterhouses that purchase livestock may be licensed by provincial or federal food safety authorities.
A provincially licensed slaughterhouse can produce food exclusively for its province, while a federally licensed slaughterhouse can prepare food throughout the country and export it worldwide.
But there are only 18 federally regulated slaughterhouses. Three of them account for 85 percent of Canada’s beef processing capacity and are operated by two multinational firms, Cargill and JBS Foods.
Liberal MP Michael Couto is worried about this.
“When you have two multinational corporations controlling the processing of beef, it doesn’t allow the system to provide the necessary resilience and sovereignty needed for Canada to be the best it can be,” said Coteau, chairman of the House of Commons agriculture committee.
Liberal MP Michael Coteau, who chairs the House of Commons agriculture committee, says the concentration of beef processing “prevents the system from creating the necessary resilience and sovereignty needed to make Canada the best it can be.” (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
That committee’s report noted that while large plants like those operated by Cargill and JBS Foods “offer significant economies of scale,” they leave the supply chain vulnerable to shocks if disruption occurs.
As an example, the report cited a coronavirus outbreak at Cargill’s High River, Alta., facility that reduced operations to just one shift.
This resulted in beef producers being unable to get their cattle to market as planned, creating “a backlog of cattle heading to slaughter and increasing costs for producers whose cattle remain in feedlots longer than expected.”
Lewis Robinson, chef and owner of La Petite Primerose restaurant in Gatineau, Quebec, says provincial slaughter regulations prevent him from bringing local meat across the Quebec border. In one case, a nearby Quebec farmer had to drive past Ottawa to Montreal to have a yak slaughtered. (Jennifer Chevalier/CBC)
Lewis Robinson, chef and owner of La Petite Primerose in Gatineau, Quebec, said: House he sometimes finds it difficult to serve local beef to his customers.
Robinson’s Restaurant, specializing in local cuisine, is located just across the river from Ottawa. But due to provincial meat slaughter regulations, he can’t transport the meat across the Ontario-Quebec border.
“We’ve been working with (a local farm) that needs to drive past Ottawa towards Montreal to slaughter a yak so we can get it here. They spend an hour and a half getting the animal cleaned up,” Robinson said.
“From what I have discussed with farmers in the area, they would also like to have more options.”
The National Food Security Strategy is committing $12 million over three years and $3 million currently to help approximately 4,000 provincially licensed food establishments obtain practical guidance on meeting federal food requirements.
Eric Patenaude, owner of Henderson’s Meats and Abattoir in Chesterville, Ont., is trying to get a federal license. He said the process used to be much more complicated, but the federal government has made it easier.
Eric Patenaude, owner of Henderson’s Meats and Abattoir in Chesterville, Ont., is trying to get a federal license. He says the process has become much easier and his goal is to sell meat as far away as Nunavut. (Jennifer Chevalier/CBC)
“I received the certificate in 30 days,” Patenaude said. “It was incredible. So now everything is in the hands of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and then we just move forward to get the license.”
Patenaude said his goal is to sell meat as far away as Nunavut, and becoming a federally controlled plant would allow Quebec farmers to bring their animals to his slaughterhouse.
“We don’t want to compete with Cargill. We want our small local farmers, the guys who sell (at the) farmers market, to be able to sell anywhere,” he said.
So prices will go down?
In short, it will take time for more slaughterhouses to become federally licensed and for Canadian ranchers to build up their supplies.
Rosadyuk said she would like to predict a reduction in prices “for the sake of the common good.” She said while producers have the opportunity to make more money now because of higher livestock prices, they still feel the pinch when going to the grocery store.
“We’re consumers just like everyone else, right?” – said Rosadyuk.
Brenda Rosadyuk, who raises calves on her ranch in Evansburg, Alta., says like many Canadians, she and other beef producers feel discriminated against during their own trips to the grocery store. (Jennifer Chevalier/CBC)
Grier said that while Canadian cattle numbers are slowly recovering, the U.S. is still experiencing a severe drought that is affecting its own supplies.
“We haven’t even bottomed out yet in terms of supply,” Grier said. “So it’s not going to get any better… In terms of actual demand, demand has been very robust since 2015. But (in) the last four or five years, I’ve never seen anything like this, this good.”
Despite the high costs currently, Waags said he hopes Canadians realize the quality of their meat is good and “still very, very nutritious.”
“It’s actually cheap compared to a lot of other places in the world. It’s cheap compared to a lot of other things they consume,” Waags said. “And it’s very, very complex and difficult to produce… in terms of effort, resources, time and energy.”