Why are cucumber prices through the roof across Canada?

Often long, crunchy, and great for hydration, getting your hands on cucumbers in Canada is proving more difficult.

And even if you are able to find them, the price at grocery stores is up.

There are a few reasons behind the spike. For one, it’s winter and Canada is bringing in shipments from the southern U.S. and Mexico, but with the loonie struggling of late, extra costs are being passed along to the consumer.

Michael von Massow, professor in the Department of Food Agriculture and Resource Economics at the University of Guelph, explains that in the winter, fresh produce comes from further away and grocery stores compete with other locations for it.

“The other thing that’s happened specifically with cucumbers is in December we saw some recalls of cucumbers,” von Massow explained.

All the stock that was taken out of the system was then destroyed, setting back availability.

“It takes a while for the system to catch back up with production, so, we’re seeing a shortage,” he shared. “In some cases, stores or restaurants aren’t able to get cucumbers and in some cases, they’re just harder to get and more expensive.”

“While we expect it to be more expensive at this time of year anyway, cucumbers are especially more expensive because of the recalls.”

Von Massow expects prices to come down a bit in the coming weeks.

“Because the product will come back into the system. You can’t just double production. These are plants, so the biological process takes a while, so we’ll see the product come back and that will be corrected. And as we get closer to the summer growing season in Canada, the product will get a little cheaper again because it’s not getting trucked as far, and it’s not getting paid for in American dollars.”

He’s adamant that one of the biggest parts of stock levels improving is not having another recall.

In December, the federal government issued a recall of some SunFed cucumbers due to salmonella contamination. The alert was issued in a number of provinces, including B.C.

As we inch closer to warmer weather, von Massow explains domestic production will come into focus.

“The mass production happens in the Lower Mainland, southern Ontario, Quebec, and a little bit in the Maritimes as well. There are some market gardens on the Prairies, but those are relatively small amounts of production.”

Statistics Canada adds it’s tricky to track price fluctuations because seasonality plays such a big part, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables.

“Cucumber prices increased by 3.5 per cent in November 2024 compared with March 2024. Compared with April, prices have increased by 8.1 per cent. And finally, comparing November 2024 prices with May 2024 prices, the price of cucumbers has increased by 22.6 per cent,” it explained in an email to 1130 NewsRadio.

And year-over-year, the agency says prices went up just under two per cent.