Public Safety Canada did a survey in January that found that, because of labour shortages, companies reported their food production had gone down by 20%. We're in a situation where it's hard to believe a country like Canada can't keep up with its own food production. It's dazzling. We know ours is not the only industry facing labour problems.
The impact of food supply is quite significant. There's also animal welfare. Dimitri pointed this out. A lot of the products that we manufacture involve receiving animals, and if we don't have people to receive animals in the processing plants, you cause a backup at the farm and cause a lot of problems for producers. There are concerns about the welfare and managing of those animals on farms beyond where they should have been.
In terms of food inflation, we are clearly seeing significant food inflation in Canada. The rate reported at the end of February was 7.4%. I think that's the highest we've seen since the 1990s.
Clearly, Canadians are paying a price for all of the effects that we're seeing in the food industry of labour and supply chain issues.