{"id":826385,"date":"2026-07-26T02:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T02:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/826385\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T02:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T02:47:10","slug":"food-prices-rising-diesel-costs-on-p-e-i-could-increase-grocery-bills-across-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/826385\/","title":{"rendered":"Food prices: Rising diesel costs on P.E.I. could increase grocery bills across Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Farmers in P.E.I. say the additional costs are being passed along the chain to consumers. Maria Sarrouh reports. <\/p>\n

HUNTER RIVER, P.E.I. – Higher diesel prices are cutting into farm profits on P.E.I., and grocers warn the added costs could drive up how much Canadians pay for food.<\/p>\n

In Hunter River, dairy farmer Daniel Hagmann relies on diesel to keep his tractors moving, his 120 cows fed and their milk headed to market. His annual fuel bill is already in the tens of thousands of dollars and is only getting bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s profit lost,\u201d said Hagmann, who also chairs the Dairy Farmers of P.E.I. board. \u201cIt\u2019s just money taken out of our pockets at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diesel prices on P.E.I. have eased from their spring peak, but climbed again Friday to about $2.44 a litre<\/a>. That\u2019s roughly 17 cents above the national average, according to data from Kalibrate.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hagmann said many farmers didn\u2019t anticipate the surge or factor it into their cash-flow projections at the start of the year. For now, they\u2019re \u201ctaking the hit\u201d and absorbing the added costs, but he said that won\u2019t be sustainable for long.<\/p>\n

\"\"Daniel Hagmann Daniel Hagmann, a dairy farmer and chair of the Dairy Farmers of P.E.I. board, says rising diesel costs are cutting into farm profits. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re facing other pressures: contractors hired to cut grass and harvest forage are charging more as diesel prices rise, while higher equipment and propane expenses are driving up the price of feed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to pass that increase on, so it just keeps going down the chain,\u201d Hagmann said.<\/p>\n

The impact won\u2019t be limited to dairy products, said Gary Sands, senior vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely going to be seeing the impact of rising diesel prices on the shelves of grocery stores, and that\u2019s just inevitable,\u201d Sands said.<\/p>\n

Food that travels long distances, is imported or requires cold storage is likely to be hit first.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything from fresh fruits and vegetables to meat (and) dairy products … are most vulnerable to these kinds of rising costs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The effects also won\u2019t be felt equally across the country.<\/p>\n

Sands said northern, rural and remote communities could face greater increases because transporting and distributing food already costs more in those areas.<\/p>\n

\"\"A customer shops for produce at a FreshCo grocery store in Brampton, Ont., Friday, June 5, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Chris Young A customer shops for produce at a FreshCo grocery store in Brampton, Ont., Friday, June 5, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Chris Young <\/p>\n

While some of those added expenses could reach retailers within weeks, others may take months to appear, Sands said, depending on how long a product takes to move from a farm or processor to a store.<\/p>\n

He also welcomed Ottawa\u2019s new food-security strategy, which includes funding for more food terminals and regional hubs. He said the projects could eventually reduce transportation costs, though they won\u2019t make grocery prices fall overnight.<\/p>\n

Eligible P.E.I. farmers can buy tax-exempt marked diesel for authorized uses, but higher fuel prices still affect their operations. <\/p>\n

Hagmann said it\u2019s not clear exactly when farmers may need to pass more of their costs on, but it could happen before the end of the year. The next few months will show whether the worst has passed or costs keep climbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt cuts the bottom line for us,\u201d he said. \u201cSo really, we hope to see an end soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Farmers in P.E.I. say the additional costs are being passed along the chain to consumers. Maria Sarrouh reports.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[712,45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-826385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}