As Statistics Canada records double-digit beef inflation and new federal tariffs raise packaging costs across the grocery supply chain, Northern Raised is expanding direct farm-to-home meat delivery for Ontario households seeking a shorter, more transparent alternative.
-- Northern Raised, an Ontario farm-to-home meat delivery service, is expanding its direct-to-consumer model as retail meat prices continue to climb across the province. Statistics Canada reported beef prices up 12.7 percent year over year in March 2026, following increases of 18.8 percent in January and 27 percent in November 2025, with chicken up 7.5 percent and pork up 6.2 percent over the same period.
The increases are expected to continue. Canada's Food Price Report 2026, published by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab, forecasts meat prices rising another 5 to 7 percent this year, the fastest of any food category, and projects a family of four will spend up to $994.63 more on food in 2026 than the year before. Michael von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph, does not expect a downward trend in beef prices before late 2027, as Canada's cattle herd, which grew 2.5 percent to 11.1 million head as of January 1, 2026 according to Statistics Canada, will take years to rebuild after a prolonged decline.
Additional pressure is coming from trade policy. Canada's counter-tariffs, in effect since September 8, 2026, apply duties of 15 to 50 percent on more than 700 categories of American goods worth $27.6 billion, according to the Department of Finance Canada. Meat itself is not on the list, but packaging inputs relied on by processors and grocers, including corrugated boxes, plastic food bags, aluminum foil and glass, face duties as high as 50 percent, a cost economists expect to move through processor margins and onto store shelves over the next year.
Northern Raised positions its model as a way to shorten that chain. Customers build orders from individual cuts of Ontario-raised beef, chicken, pork, lamb and bison, choose a delivery date at checkout, and receive orders cut fresh and shipped in temperature-controlled packaging. Every product is raised to a published standard, addressing the importance of meat sourcing standards with unit pricing shown on each item. Households looking to source beef directly can Buy grass fed beef online through the company's site.
"Every extra hand between the farm and your kitchen is another place a tariff or a cost increase gets added," said Andrew, co-founder of Northern Raised. "We built Northern Raised to take those hands out. The meat is raised in Ontario, it comes to your door on a date you choose, and you can see exactly what you are paying per pound."
About Northern Raised
Northern Raised is an Ontario farm-to-home meat delivery brand offering 100 percent grass-fed and finished beef, pasture-raised chicken, pork, lamb and bison. Orders are cut fresh and delivered cold-secured across Ontario. Learn more at northernraised.ca.
Contact Info:
Name: Andrew Pottruff
Email: Send Email
Organization: Northern Raised
Website: https://www.northernraised.ca
Release ID: 89203263
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