Trump Tariffs and Table Fare
- By Chris Knight
- August 7, 2025
It’s been a while since I have had the time to sit down and post something for the website. But with everything that’s happened since January, I thought it was important to take a couple of hours to put something down. Tariffs are the new buzz word. Are they on? Are they off? Is it on this product? This week? Next week? Crazy times for sure.
How can we work around them? This is a question we all deal with, and our house is no exception. I brought some sporting goods equipment over the border just before Easter after I thought the Canada – U.S. tariffs were off only to have to pay an additional 25% at the border. Our food is no exception. Food chains are suffering from tariffs and other changing policies such as immigration in the U.S. Much of Ontario’s produce comes from California in the winter months. Who is going to work in those fields if they are deported to their home country? Much of our meat processing, if it comes from the U.S., depends on immigrant labour both legal and illegal. Who will work in those plants if they are afraid to show up for work? Who will produce the cut beef, pork, and chicken on the supermarket shelves?
It’s easy to feel helpless with our current situation. But there is something we can do very easily – BUY LOCAL. The current Elbows Up and Buy Canadian campaigns are the current version of this although I don’t hear about this simple concept as much as I used to a few years ago. We are in a situation where this simple act can have a huge positive impact on the Canadian economy. Our butcher ship is literally 5 minutes from our farm. No border, no tariffs are involved. I know almost all the employees by name. Their paycheques stay in our community and Ontario. We work with our neighbours and fellow beef farmers, keeping delicious and nutritious beef at home. Finding efficiencies between our farms to help each other out. It never crosses the border. Our beef never goes through a multi-national corporation.
Part of the reason we are in this predicament, is because we have lost our sense of community. We have always had our differences but at least we could have reasonable conversations with each other. I don’t get the sense right now.
Building resilient food economies is our way to fight back against threats. It’s our way to get our Elbows Up Canada so to speak. When you purchase our angus beef locally, you deal one on one with the farmer, it has no chance to be impacted by trade policy. It also, as outlined keeps money in Ontario, profits in Ontario. Minimizes shipping costs, keeps its nutritional profile etc.
I have said it before but voting with your wallet is one of the most effective ways to have your voice heard in a world filled with conflicting messages. Choosing to support local farms allows you to take a stand with your Elbows Up and in our case, a steak knife in your hand.
