Canadian families can expect to pay an extra $487 on average for food next year, according to a yearly study.

The 2020 Canada’s Food Price Report – a collaboration between the universities of Guelph and Dalhousie – found that the average household grocery bill will be $12,667.

Rising costs for meat, seafood and other produce are to blame.

Meat is expected to rise by as much as 6%, seafood by 4% and vegetables by 4%.

Overall increases are expected to be between 2 and 4%.

“If US President Donald Trump’s election campaign focuses heavily on Mexico border protection, this may result in even more costly fruit and vegetables for Canadians,” said Professor Simon Somogyi, Guelph’s project lead for the report.

“We get a large amount of our fruit and vegetables from the US and Mexico, and delays at the border crossing can lead to empty grocery store shelves.”

Sylvain Charlebois, the scientific director of Dalhousie’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, spoke of the potential consequences.

“When rates increase quickly, families can be left behind,” Charlebois explained.

“Vegetables are a perfect example.

“Canada’s new Food Guide is encouraging Canadians to eat more vegetables, but they’re getting more expensive.”

The predicted 4% hike in prices is in addition to a 12% surge over the last 12 months.

Extreme weather, recalls and the tightening of the US–Mexico border are contributing to the sudden increase, Somogyi explained.

“We are a food importing country,” he added.

“From November to May, our weather is too cold to grow vegetables in the traditional way.”

A solution, Guelph researchers said, is to subsidize indoor farming.

Studies aimed at finding vegetable breeds that will grow well in those conditions would also be necessary.

“This would allow us to produce more local vegetables, cut down on logistics costs and improve farm food safety.”