Yukon farmers and growers battle inflation, price hikes

Yukon farmers and growers say steep increases in their overheads are making it harder to provide customers with affordable local food.

They say the cost of necessities like fuel, compost and fertilizer has been pushed up by inflation and, in part, the war in Ukraine. 

In the Ibex Valley near Whitehorse, Sunnyside Farm co-owner Krista Roske said her interest rates have gone up 91 per cent in two years, and her insurance by 18 per cent. 

"And that's based on, you know, not thousands but tens of thousands [of dollars] when you're looking at farm insurance. So that is a significant increase," she said. 

Sunnyside Farm produces milk, cream and butter stocked in a number of Whitehorse stores and grocers.

It aims to provide "sustainable product to customers at affordable prices."

But Roske said the concepts of sustainability and affordability were beginning to feel in "direct conflict".

"We just had our first price increase in over a year and, you know, we tried really hard not to do that, but we've had to, crunching the numbers, because you can't sustainably run a business that's losing money."

She had been looking at ways to save money, like improving the farm's feeding systems to reduce the amount of hay waste from her "messy eater" cows. 

But it has been hard to avoid other increases to her business bills. 

"The cost of diesel, particularly, because a lot of our farm equipment runs on diesel. It's gone up and down all over the place, but it's about $0.48 higher than it was two years ago, per litre," she said.

At the Fireweed Community Market in Whitehorse, growers say they have been preparing to clean their greenhouses, turn the soil and wrap up operations for winter.

Dimitri Graviche has been selling vegetables at the market from Allie Baba Sundog, a small farm 30 minutes north of Whitehorse. 

He said it had been a "difficult" season to earn money and he was hoping for better luck next year. 

"Since the war in Ukraine, all the prices for growing, it's gone up a lot....the fertilizers, compost, it's four times the price since last year. I can't put my price up four times more. 

"It's a lot of stress this year, and I had bad crops this year. I hope it's going to be better next year and the price is gonna go down."

Yukon Gardens in Whitehorse has also resisted charging more for its products, but worker Glenn Labid said he wouldn't be surprised if that had to change next year. 

"Like other businesses, [inflation] has affected the cost of production. Fertilizers, water, electricity. My boss also needs to pay us more, [the] increase in the minimum wage for example," he said. 

Krista Roske said Yukoners might find homegrown products a bit more expensive, but it's important to remember that it supports a local farming family. She urges people to buy Yukon-made products where possible.