Trade war windfall for B.C. food bank — hundreds of kilograms of unsold U.S. produce

The trend toward buying Canadian has created a silver lining for a food bank in Nanaimo, B.C., which has been flooded with hundreds of kilograms of American produce.

Peter Sinclair, executive director of Loaves & Fishes Community Food Bank, says a food recovery program allows them to accept surplus or unsold items from their grocery store partners and wholesalers.

He says when the talk of tariffs between Canada and the United States started, they saw a jump in donations of American produce of everything from cauliflower to lettuce.

Sinclair says they don’t normally track the country of origin for donated food, but their warehouse manager has estimated about 300 to 400 kilograms more of American produce has come in, compared with what is normal.

The boom lasted for five weeks before it began trailing off last week, a downward trend that Sinclair says may be due to retailers adjusting their purchasing to match what Canadians want.

Dan Huang-Taylor, executive director of Food Banks BC, says it doesn’t come as a surprise to him because when he goes grocery shopping, he sees a lot of U.S. products marked down because “clearly, they are not selling.”

Huang-Taylor says he’s concerned for when the impact of the American tariffs start to cause price surges at the grocery store, which will make life less affordable for Canadians.

“We believe that the tariff will make things much harder for people, so, we anticipate more people needing to access food banks in the months and years ahead.”

This report by Nono Shen, The Canadian Press, was first published Mar. 20, 2025.