Tariff turmoil is pushing produce demand at N.B. farm to early pandemic levels

Hannah Rudderham · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 16, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

From trade brew to trade supplies, the propulsion to bargain section amid ever-changing tariff threats is making radical cheque their packages earlier purchasing.

And the aforesaid goes for fruits and vegetables astatine the market store, astatine slightest according to a section husbandman extracurricular of Woodstock, N.B., who hasn't seen this benignant of request since the aboriginal months of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Tim Livingstone, the proprietor of Strawberry Hill Farm, said the workplace is highly busy.

"I would accidental we've seen, situation I say, akin to pandemic-style buying," said Livingstone.

One of the areas wherever helium is seeing precocious request is with the farm's community-supported agriculture boxes, wherever radical motion up successful beforehand and perpetrate to taking a container of caller nutrient each week.

The outpouring box, which goes retired each different week, has already sold out, and present Livingstone said the workplace is taking sign-ups for the summertime box. 

"We're nearing two-thirds sold already with astir 3 weeks being open," helium said. "We've ne'er seen this complaint of sign-up. Where we are now, I deliberation we would usually spot that mid-May."

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs connected definite Canadian goods for weeks now. After implementing 25 per cent tariffs connected each Canadian goods past week, helium erstwhile again paused them. The back-and-forth has had concern owners and consumers connected edge.

It has prompted immoderate Canadians to commencement looking astatine wherever their products travel from erstwhile astatine the store.

While Livingstone said it's hard to accidental however overmuch the bargain section inclination has accrued sales, since the workplace has besides made a large societal media effort to beforehand the boxes, helium said it is apt that 50 per cent to 75 per cent of the bump is coming from the commercialized dispute. 

Livingstone said it is ever large to get caller customers, but helium hopes customers recognize that a section workplace does not person the aforesaid capableness arsenic a supermarket.

For example, helium said nutrient being sold close present would person been planted successful outpouring of 2024. So erstwhile that runs out, it is gone.

He said radical wishing to store locally should marque a semipermanent plan.

"We person to decide, is this a sustainable surge?" said Livingstone.

"We were, like, 3 years aft the pandemic, struggling with getting costs reigned nether power again, to the constituent wherever profitability was questionable," helium said. 

"We're starting to spot that travel around, which is awesome, but astatine the aforesaid time, we don't privation to speculate and turn a full clump of worldly [and then] possibly the commercialized warfare blows implicit and radical instrumentality to, … their mean buying habits, and we extremity up stuck connected product."