XPost: can.politics, bc.politics   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   A 34% increase in prices for fresh foods.  And it's California's persistent   
   trend to droughts that is behind them.   
   ____________________________________________   
      
   CBC News Posted: Oct 10, 201   
      
   B.C. food prices expected to rise dramatically   
   Effects of extended California drought about to push up cost of fruits and   
   vegetables   
      
      
   An extended drought in California is at the root of warnings that B.C. is about   
   to face skyrocketing produce prices.   
      
   A report released Friday predicts the price of fruits and vegetables could rise   
   as much as 34 per cent in the next year, hitting the pocketbooks of British   
   Columbians hard.   
      
   Wake up Call: California Drought and B.C.'s Food Security was commissioned by   
   Vancity credit union and looks at the effects of a persistent drought in   
   California over the past three years with, the report says, the past 30 months   
   being the driest on record.   
      
   British Columbians could be paying $7 a pound for broccoli in five years, a new   
   report warns.   
      
   The impact will be felt keenly in B.C., because of the province's over reliance   
   on imported food, with a concomitant reduction in crops produced here.   
   Vegetable crops in B.C. have, the report says, dropped by 20.4 per cent since   
   1991.   
      
   "The trend in two important staple vegetable crops, broccoli and lettuce,   
   showed decrease in production of 52 per cent in the case of broccoli and 34 per   
   cent in the case of lettuce between 1996 and 2011," the report notes.   
      
   "In 2010, 67 per cent of B.C. vegetable imports came from the U.S., over half   
   of which is produced in California."   
      
   Prices for broccoli and lettuce are predicted to jump by 22 per cent and 34 per   
   cent respectively this year.   
      
   "If these trends continue," the report says, "paying $7 for a crown of broccoli   
   or $3.50 for a head of lettuce could be a reality in the next five years."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)